With the vote set for Tuesday, a former underdog is now benefiting from major national endorsements and much of the outside spending in Iowa’s Republican Senate primary.

In the weeks since State Sen. Joni Ernst cut through the clutter of the five-way race with a campaign ad touting her pork-cutting experience, she has gathered support from all corners of the Republican Party. Sarah Palin campaigned for her in Des Moines and former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney will stump Cedar Rapids and Davenport this week on her behalf, after endorsing her in an email to his Iowa supporters in March. Ernst’s campaign treasurer, Bradley Crate, was Romney’s 2008 campaign CFO and a longtime aide when he was Massachusetts governor.

“I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm,” Ernst said in her March ad that features footage of young porkers. If she wins next week and in November, Ernst would be the first woman to be elected to Congress from Iowa.

Ernst has also been endorsed by the Senate Conservatives Fund, a group that has backed several non-establishment candidates in tight Senate races, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Still, Ernst’s campaign funding is modest in comparison with the operation of the other main contender in the June 3 primary, Mark Jacobs. With almost $3.9 million raised so far in the campaign cycle, Jacobs has brought in more than triple Ernst’s $1.2 million.

Much of that cash, though, comes from Jacobs’ own bank account. The former CEO of Texas-based Reliant Energy, Jacobs has drawn on his personal reserves for $2.7 million, or 69 percent of his total funds raised. As of the end of 2013 (that’s the date of the most recent electronically available data that OpenSecrets.org could analyze), he had also drawn $86,000 in contributions from the oil and gas industry and the energy industry. As of the same date, he had received nearly five times as much money from Houston as from Des Moines.

Ernst has received more small donor support, not surprisingly, but has also benefited from a slew of out-of-state contributions and spending by outside groups, particularly in the last few weeks. Out of a total $343,044 in outside spending supporting Ernst in the race, $210,870 came in the last week — including $150,770 laid out by Reclaim America, the leadership PAC of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whose political plans seem to involve the Hawkeye State.

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Quite a contrast with Ernst’s humble beginnings: She spent a mere $9,000 to air the “Squeal.” (In her second ad, by the way, she steps off her Harley, loads up her pistol and starts shooting.)

Jacobs has been helped, indirectly, by just one outside spending group, Tom Steyer’s Next Gen Climate Action Committee, a super PAC that has spent $2,231 on ads opposing Ernst.

The general election race could be tighter than anticipated. The outcome became more uncertain after America Rising PAC, a Republican opposition research super PAC, leaked damaging footage of the lone Democratic candidate, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) in late March.

In the video, Braley disparages sixth-term senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), calling him “a farmer from Iowa who never went to lawschool.” He intimates that Grassley, who is not up for reelection this year, is unfit to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a likely scenario if Democrats were to lose control of the Senate.

Braley is still favored to win against either Ernst or Jacobs, but by a narrowing margin.

Follow Lalita on Twitter at @lalitaclozel



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