Cheryl Musgrave filed her first campaign finance report yesterday (view it here, PDF warning), and it’s more bad news for Pat Bauer and company. Like Kyle Hupfer, whose $60,000 report we told you about the other day, Musgrave starts off strong with over $40,000 raised and $34,000 on hand.

Compare that her opponent in District 77, Gail Riecken, who raised just under $30,000 and spent about $25,000 in her first run in 2008. To be fair, Riecken did run unopposed that year. But that makes it impossible to gauge what exactly she is capable of (both from a fundraising standpoint, and a campaigning standpoint). The early (and, as Brian Howey called it earlier today in his Weekly Report, “robust”) filing by Musgrave puts the ball in Riecken’s court to prove she’s capable of defending her seat. In fact, for the multiple offices Riecken has ever run for, we’ve been told she’s never had a serious battle on her hands, something that looks likely to change this year. Musgrave, on the other hand, has never lost a race while running as a Republican in Democrat-leaning areas.

Despite being an incumbent, Riecken remains a large question mark when it comes to campaigning. Musgrave gets a huge leg up with this report, and shows that this race will be one to watch through the rest of 2010.