Turns out not everything that happens in Las Vegas stays in Vegas.

In a year when Republican candidates and committees are having trouble raising cash, John Ensign has been inviting fellow GOP senators to visit his home state, partake of a fundraiser and return home — he hopes — with jingling pockets. “I bring people out and raise money for them in Nevada that they could never raise anywhere else,” he said. The Vegas benefactors, he added, “only give because I’m asking them.”

Ensign chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party’s Senate campaign organization, and he contributes to colleagues through his political action committee, Battle Born PAC. (It’s from the slogan on Nevada’s flag because the state joined the Union during the Civil War.) But his fly-in fundraisers have a more personal touch. Through the end of March, Nevadans gave $559,000 to GOP Senate candidates in the 23 states where the party is defending seats. While modest compared to most states, such targeted contributions can be telling: Sen. Norm Coleman has received more money from Nevada Republicans than he has from all but three states outside Minnesota.

The tactic allows incumbents who aren’t on the ballot this year, but who have a strong base of support, to help colleagues who might not. Freshman Republican Bob Corker, for example, used his own donor lists from two years ago to populate Tennessee fundraisers for Coleman, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Susan Collins of Maine.

“We have relationships with people,” Corker said. “If we say, this candidate is someone deserving of support, they’re willing to help.” There are also plenty of cross-state connections to tap. Unum Group, one of the world’s largest disability insurance providers, is headquartered in Chattanooga but is still a major employer in its former hometown of Portland, Maine.

“I represent a state that has very limited income and only a small number of people who are able to help me financially,” said Collins, who faces a stiff challenge from Democratic Rep. Tom Allen. “Having my colleagues be willing to host fundraisers for me in their states is a big help.”

Senate Democrats are defending half as many seats as the GOP, and their campaign committee had $38.5 million in cash to spend at the end of last month, versus $21.6 million for the Republicans.

In the House, the “Red to Blue” program of the Democrats echoes the Senate GOP effort. It presses donors in New York, Los Angeles and other politically non-competitive congressional districts to give directly to 37 candidates in hot races across the country. “It identifies a pool of candidates who are attractive to donors all around the country,” said Artur Davis of Alabama, a co-chairman of the program. “If you’re in California, how many seats are safe in California? But there are competitive seats all over the country.”

Ensign said he doesn’t care whether his party’s candidates get money through the NRSC or through direct-to-candidate events like the ones he and others have hosted, because the “net is all that counts anyway.”

So far, the biggest beneficiary of Silver State largess has been Coleman, who’s gotten $126,000 from Nevadans since January 2007 for his battle for a second term against Democrat Al Franken. “We all depend on all our colleagues to chip in,” Coleman said. “We’re outgunned. We expect the Dems to raise twice as much. We’ve got to work a little harder at what we do.”

Out-of-state cash has long been a factor in congressional campaigns, but raising it became more urgent after the 2002 campaign finance law abolished unregulated “soft money” given to the parties.

“It’s awfully hard to raise money, especially with these crazy rules we have,” said Republican Orrin G. Hatch, who won his sixth Senate term in Utah two years ago and so felt free to host a Washington fundraiser for Collins this month. “I’ve been around so long, I’m able to introduce some of my colleagues to people all over the country.”

Click here for an interactive graphic to see Who’s Winning Big from Nevada Fundraising.