Senate Republicans have amassed a campaign war chest of nearly $5 million, money that will come in handy as the GOP heads in what’s widely considered to be a difficult political season.

Top line figures for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee provided by a GOP source show the conference has $4.8 million in the bank after raising $3 million in the most recent six-month reporting period.

As usual, Republicans in the Senate have a cash advantage over their Democratic counterparts, whose campaign committee reported $1.7 million in debt and $200,000 in cash on hand. Democrats raised $1 million over the same reporting period.

A GOP source said gleefully of the fundraising totals, “So much for predictions of a fierce battle for control of the State Senate. It’s getting awfully close to ‘Game, Set, and Match’ already.”

Still, Democrats are confident in their chances of recapturing control of the chamber, thanks in part to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s vow to veto legislative boundaries not drawn by an independent commission and that the party usually is helped in turnout during an election year.

The Senate is divided 32-29, with one vacancy (that does not include the four-member Independent Democratic Conference).

But Senate Republicans point to their fiscal successes during 2011 and the relative ease with which the conference has worked with Cuomo, a popular Democratic governor whose shared goals of a tax cap and reduced spending brought him early legislative successes.

The Senate GOP are confident that the mix of legislative work, money and reminding voters of the dysfunction of the Democrats’ brief time in the majority will help them win come November.

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