A year before the gubernatorial primary, rivals for the Democratic nomination are emphasizing early strengths -- one grass-roots, the other, green.

Del. Brian J. Moran's campaign said yesterday that it will report taking in $1.38 million in the first period of 2008.

Moran's campaign pre-empted the fundraising reporting deadline by eight days, sending an e-mail touting a statewide appeal and fundraising ability.

Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, also seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, plans to release his numbers on the July 15 reporting deadline. Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell plans to present his figures this week.

Moran's $1.38 million, which includes $393,000 from a political committee he controls, sets a record for candidates who had not previously run a statewide campaign, according to Virginians for Brian Moran. The campaign had about $800,000 cash on hand as of July 1. Moran represents Alexandria in the House of Delegates.

His campaign fundraising was buoyed by two Richmond-area events, one of which was hosted in June by Allison Weinstein, Ivan Jecklin, Stuart and Dawn Siegel, James E. Ukrop and others.

Moran's intake exceeds the $1.25 million raised by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the $1.26 million brought in by Kaine's Republican opponent, Jerry Kilgore, in the first half of 2004, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

It falls short of the $1.99 million that Democrat Mark R. Warner raised in the first half of 2000, when he was running for governor.

Moran's emphasis on fundraising comes as his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Deeds, picks up support in Moran's home base of Northern Virginia.

Deeds has been endorsed by Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple of Arlington County, head of the Senate Democratic Caucus; Sen. J. Chapman Petersen of Fairfax city; and the commonwealth's attorneys in Fairfax and Prince William counties, Ray Morrough and Paul Ebert, respectively.

Also backing Deeds: Robert Horan, Morrough's longtime predecessor as the Fairfax County prosecutor.

Deeds is winning support from law-enforcement unions in Northern Virginia, the Fairfax Coalition of Police and the Fairfax Deputy Sheriff's Coalition. Yesterday, he added an endorsement from the parent organization of the two groups, the International Union of Police Associations.
Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or omeola@timesdispatch.com.

Contact Jeff Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com.