U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner will travel to Lancaster County on Aug. 10 to help raise money for U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts’ re-election campaign. Not that Pitts needs the help. The Chester County Republican has raised nearly half a million bucks for his re-election campaign this year — way, way more than he’s ever raised at this point in any his previous six runs.

And he shows no signs of stopping.

“The congressman’s goal is to raise as much money as he can to maximize his ability to help other candidates as well as to successfully run his own campaign,” said Pitts Chief of Staff Gabe Neville.

With three months until the election, Pitts’ war chest contains 31 times the cash as his Democratic opponent’s. The incumbent had more than $292,000 to spend as of June 30. Bruce Slater had $9,493. Which raises a question: Why? Why is Pitts trying to hard? Isn’t bringing Boehner to town — did I mention that a ticket to a roundtable discussion with him is $2,300 — sort of like bringing an Uzi to a knife fight? It seems that way. Until you consider election returns in the 16th Congressional District since 1998, the year Pitts won his second two-year term.

Bottom line: his margins of victory have slipped. And as they have slipped, campaign-finance records show, Pitts’ fundraising efforts have intensified. In 1998, Pitts earned a second term after  winning nearly 71 percent of vote against Democratic Robert S. Yorczyk. By June 30 of that year, Pitts had raised only $114,694. At the end of June this year, he had picked up $451,446 in contributions.

So what’s happened since 1998? His election returns have fallen to 67 percent in 2000, 64 percent in 2004, and less than 57 percent in 2006. In fact, his margin of victory two years ago was a relatively slim 17 points. (Pitts didn’t face a major-party opponent in 2002, and therefore won a substantial victory, getting 88 percent of the vote.) At the same time, his fundraising numbers at June 30 of those election yeas steadily rose from $114,694 in 1998 to $116,445 in 2000, $288,182 in 2002, and $338,019 in 2004. It fell slightly to $320,632 in 2006, but it’s back up to $451,446 this year.

There are a number of reasons that his margins have slipped, including disaffection with the Republican Party, which certainly bleeds over onto Pitts himself, during the last couple of cycles. But the 16th is not nearly as solid red as it was before the 2002 redistricting, when Reading was placed in the district. Chester County, part of which is in the district as well, is also trending Democratic.

Given those trends and numbers, it certainly makes sense that Pitts is trying so hard to raise money.