Cropp, Fenty Chase Different Donors

One Taps Longtime Political Connections; the Other, Grass Roots

Negash Shifraw, right, introduces Linda W. Cropp at an event at Abi Ti Ethiopian Restaurant in Northwest. His wife, Abonesh Boku, is at left. Cropp says she has "a broad range of contributions from everyone, from all over this city." (Photos By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)

The race for D.C. mayor has been cast as a battle between proven experience and fresh energy, and that contrast is apparent when you follow the money.

The front-runners, D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp and council member Adrian M. Fenty, each have collected just over $1.75 million, fueling a campaign that is the most expensive in city history. But with two months to go until the Democratic primary, Cropp is raising funds the old-fashioned way, building trust among big donors, while Fenty is hustling for smaller contributions and inspiring more ordinary voters to get involved in the political process.

A Washington Post analysis of campaign finance records shows that much of Cropp's money has come from downtown developers, former government officials and other members of the city's political establishment, while more of Fenty's cash comes from small businesses and his Ward 4 constituents, many of them people writing their first checks in a local election.

Cropp supporters often give as much as they can -- $2,000, the legal limit -- and bundle contributions from family members and affiliated corporations.

Fenty supporters tend to give smaller amounts but do so repeatedly, writing multiple checks for $25 or $50. More than half of donations to his campaign are less than $100; few had hit the $2,000 limit as of June 10, when the most recent reports were filed with the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. Although he and Cropp have raised about the same amount, Fenty has collected nearly twice as many donations -- 4,407 to Cropp's 2,661.

The reports paint a vivid portrait of the financial support behind Cropp and Fenty, who lead a field of five major Democrats in fundraising and most polls. Together, the five have raised more than $4.5 million, the most ever for a mayoral campaign in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Political analysts say the divergent tactics should be expected in a race that pits Cropp, a polished veteran with a quarter-century of political experience, against Fenty, a council sophomore with a populist streak and an adversarial relationship with city power brokers.

Cropp, 58, has been endorsed by all three major business groups, several labor unions and Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). She promises to continue policies that have balanced the city's books and revived downtown. Fenty, 35, ranks among Williams's most persistent critics and promises to bring youthful energy to intractable problems while also focusing on residents left out of the city's economic renaissance.

"As a powerful chairman, it's very easy for Cropp to go to those people that she works with on a day-to-day basis for money. And there's quite a bit of pressure for them to give to her at that level," said Edwin Bender, executive director of the National Institute on Money in State Politics. "That blocks Fenty's ability to go to those people. So his only real alternative is to do exactly what he's doing: Go out and do a grass-roots campaign, talking about ideas and talking about how he does not represent the entrenched interests."

Cropp's fundraising strategy may make it easier for her to raise cash for the television ads and direct-mail pieces that could sway undecided voters in the final days before the Sept. 12 primary, analysts said. But Fenty's approach gives more voters a direct stake in his victory, they said, a potential advantage given his careful husbanding of resources. As of June 10, Fenty had more than $1.2 million in the bank, while Cropp had just under $900,000.

"From Day One, we have gone after average residents," Fenty said. "It's been a successful strategy not only in raising money, but also in building energy."

Cropp says that it is more important "to have a broad range of contributions from everyone, from all over this city. And we have been successful in doing that."