The state Fair Political Practices Commission, in its monthly Top 10 list, has placed Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, at No. 4 on its all-time list of beneficiaries of independent expenditure campaigns.

Strickland got the benefit of $1.7 million ($1,679,729, to be precise) in independent campaign advertising, purchased by interest groups with no direct connection to the candidate, during the course of his 2008 Senate campaign, the FPPC reports.

That places him just behind former Democratic Assemblyman John Dutra, who lost a primary contest in 2006, and just ahead of Sen. Rod Wright, who won his Senate seat in 2008.

Atop the lost is Orange County Sen. Lou Correa. Interest groups independently spent $2.4 million to help Correa narrowly win election in 2006.