Freshman Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan needs fundraising help. His 2006 race, in which he replaced Senate candidate Katherine Harris in Florida's Thirteenth Congressional District, was the most expensive in the country that year, costing him $5.5 million of his own money and $8.1 million in total. With all that help, he still won by just 369 votes in a district that gave President Bush a thirteen-point margin in 2004.

This year, Buchanan will face his 2006 opponent, banker Christine Jennings, who contested the election results in 2006 after dozens of ballot boxes in traditionally-GOP (though Democratic-trending) Sarasota County registered 18,000 undervotes, in which voters cast ballots for other races but not for Congress. Jennings, too, has her own money; she spent $2.1 million from her own pocket two years ago, and she promises to be well-funded again.

Buchanan has already had a good fundraising year, pulling in more than $600,000 in the Second Quarter alone and ending with over $1.5 million on hand. The second quarter put him over $3 million raised for the cycle, his campaign said in a release. Jennings has yet to release her fundraising report this quarter, though national Democrats have included her in the Red to Blue program for top challengers.

For Buchanan, it always helps to have friends. And inside the district, which runs from the south Tampa suburbs in Manatee County through Sarasota and includes two inland counties, Buchanan has found at least one Democratic friend to help him raise precious campaign cash. Investment banker David Grain, along with his wife and another couple, held a fundraiser for Buchanan in Bradenton, Florida, last month, featuring hor d'oeuvres and libations, per the invitation, bringing in $500 a head.

Grain, founder of Grain Capital, and his wife, Dr. Lisa Grain, are big donors, having given $45,000 in the past few cycles, but they're not mega-donors who write massive checks at the drop of a hat. What makes the fundraiser for Buchanan interesting is Grain's history of backing Democratic candidates. He's got a favorite at the moment, too; Grain is a bundler for Barack Obama, as well as a member of his National Finance Committee. The Grains have maxed out to Obama and have raised another $100,000 on the Illinois Senator's behalf.

Too, the couple has ponied up big time to the very group that could go after Buchanan in November. While Grain gave Jennings $1,000 during her failed 2004 primary run, the couple has handed more than $21,000 over to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this cycle alone, with the latest donation coming just two weeks before the June 13 fundraiser for Buchanan.

Who says bipartisanship doesn't exist?