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Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has raised nearly $1.2 million for her congressional re-election campaign, packing $225,000 into her war chest in just the last three months, according to Federal Election Commission filings released Monday.

A year out from the election, Giffords appears to be on track to meet her goal of raising more than $3 million — a figure even higher than the $2.5 million she raised in 2006, when she emerged from a hotly contested primary to win a seat that had been in Republican hands for 22 years.

The federal filings released Monday include donations received through the third quarter — Sept. 30 — but the totals reflect the entire year.

Republicans have made it known they want to win the seat back, and Giffords' growing resources illustrate the cost of retaining the seat.

Considering that at this point in last year's race Giffords hadn't raised a dime, her campaign sees her $1.2 million heading into next year's cycle as a major advantage.

Giffords' potential challenger, state Senate President Tim Bee, raised roughly $135,000 in the first five weeks of his "exploratory" efforts — a number that his campaign admits is still dwarfed by Giffords' campaign bankroll.

Even with a six-figure exploratory fund, Bee's campaign manager, Meg Econ, said Monday it doesn't matter how much money Bee raises, he has no intention of announcing whether he will run for Congress until next year.

That timetable has Democrats complaining that he is evading Arizona's resign to run law. The law requires Bee to resign if he announces a candidacy this year.

"When you're looking at trying to see if you have enough support to run and you're looking at an incumbent who has over a million dollars, you're far from making that decision at this point," Econ said. "We're nowhere near making that decision at this point and won't be until next year."

Econ would not say how much money Bee would need to raise.

"I don't know that there is a specific dollar figure," Econ said when pressed for a fundraising goal. "We just need to know, is there enough support, enough people, that we can make a good run at this, and that's what we're looking at."

Giffords' campaign spokes-man, Michael McNulty, said the congresswoman's ultimate fundraising goal will depend on how "rambunctious the campaign gets," but he said the target is $3.2 million.

"I would say that we don't take anything for granted, and we certainly wouldn't take Sen. Bee for granted. He's a formidable politician," McNulty said. "But we'd probably be doing this in anticipation of a tough run even if we didn't know who the Republican Party might nominate."

This was actually the slowest quarter for Giffords so far this year. The first two quarters, she raised a combined $940,000.

McNulty says with memories of the 2006 campaign fading and the 2008 campaign "not exactly right around the corner," fund-raising will take a while to pick up again.

Giffords has shown previous success in fundraising.

While in the Legislature she opted out of taking public funding to run her campaigns, and her early efforts last year helped her steam through a crowded Democratic primary. In the general election, she ended up raising more than her Republican predecessor, Jim Kolbe, ever did in his 22 years in the seat.

One of Kolbe's former campaign managers, Toni Hellon, says Kolbe's $1.6 million raised in 2000 against Democrat George Cunningham seemed, at the time, like a huge figure.

"It didn't cost that much back then," Hellon said. With higher advertising, and volunteers replaced by clearinghouses that distribute mail pieces, running a competitive campaign for less than $1 million would be difficult today, she said.

McNulty said District 8 is a rare breed, as it's shaping up to be one of the most-watched races in the nation.

"Your average congressional race, in which a typical incumbent is not threatened, is not going to be anything near this," he said.

According to Bee's report, he spent about $15,000 on operating expenses, leaving him with around $120,000 in the bank. Giffords has $1.13 million on hand.