The $100,000 club

Six candidates for City Council have raised more than $100,000 for their campaigns, according to campaign finance reports submitted with the Cincinnati Elections Commission today:

	Candidate	Total
	Jeff Berding (D)	$200,465
	John Cranley (D)	$199,861
	Chris Bortz (C)	$168,552
	David Crowley (D)	$130,689
	Leslie Ghiz (R)	$113,864
	Chris Monzel (R)	$113,119

For comparison, here's how that list would have looked about this time in 2003:

	Candidate	Total
	David Pepper (D)	$176,098
	Pat DeWine (R)	$147,695
	John Cranley (D)	$139,957
	Leslie Ghiz (R) (see below)	$129,355
	Chris Monzel (R)	$127,312
	Barbara Trauth (R)	$113,645
	David Crowley (D)	$109,550

Earlier this year, candidates were complaining about "donor fatigue." After the hard-fought 2004 campaigns -- and with strong candidates for mayor hitting up local contributors -- City Council candidates thought they'd have a tough time raising money.

For some Democrats, at least, donor fatigue has not yet set in.

UPDATE (Saturday, 5:31 p.m.): The numbers above are based on reports to the Cincinnati Elections Commission. Leslie Ghiz mistakenly overreported the numbers on her 60-day report in 2003. According to her amended reports, the correct number for this time in 2003 should be $72,888. "I just wanted my numbers to show I am way ahead of where I was two years ago, and more than my total finish in 2003," she said.