By Elissa Silverman and Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 1, 2007

Muriel Bowser, a candidate for the Ward 4 D.C. Council seat vacated by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), said she has raised about $196,000, an indication that her campaign is benefiting from the mayor's endorsement and the use of his political machine.

Yesterday was the first campaign finance deadline for candidates planning to run in the May 1 special election.

The Ward 4 race has 21 candidates, and 25 people are seeking to fill the Ward 7 council seat left open when Vincent C. Gray (D) was elected council chairman in November.

"It's certainly a great help," Bowser said of Fenty's involvement in her campaign. "What we want to be sure of is that our message gets out far and wide, and that's what the resources help us do."

Michael A. Brown, who ran against Fenty for mayor and has substantial name recognition, has raised $35,756, according to his campaign finance report.

Brown ran for mayor for more than a year. He dropped out of the race before the September primary and threw his support to former council chairman Linda W. Cropp (D). After his citywide run, Brown, son of the late U.S. Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown, said he needed less money than his challengers to win.

"We don't have the name-recognition challenges that she does," he said, referring to Bowser.

Ward 4 candidate Renee Bowser, who is not related to Muriel Bowser, raised $21,322, including a $10,641 personal contribution.

The other Ward 4 candidates who filed reports by the close of business yesterday raised less than $6,000.

Each candidate must collect 500 signatures by Feb. 21 to be on the ballot. The maximum contribution is $500 per donor.

When the campaign office closed at 6 p.m. yesterday, 17 candidates had filed reports; the others had until midnight to file electronically.

In the Ward 7 race, neither Fenty nor Gray has made a public endorsement.

Ward 7 hopeful Johnnie Scott Rice reported raising $20,222, including a $6,000 personal contribution. Rice, who recently resigned her staff job in the office of council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), received $500 contributions from Catania and council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large).

Cleve Mesidor, a communications consultant, raised $12,808, including a $5,198 personal contribution and a $1,000 loan. Six other candidates raised $6,000 or less. Several of the other candidates also used personal loans to boost their fundraising.

Although money was a major factor in last year's mayoral race -- Fenty raised $3.8 million to Cropp's $2.8 million -- it has not always been viewed as a major factor in ward races. When Fenty defeated 21-year veteran Charlene Drew Jarvis in 2000, she had raised $215,600 to his $43,700.

After Cropp became chairman, a special election in 1997 to fill her at-large council seat attracted four candidates, who raised a combined $80,000 for their citywide campaigns.

Carrie L. Thornhill, who had been considered a leading candidate in the race for the Ward 7 council seat, withdrew this week, said her campaign manager, J.R. Meyers. Thornhill, an appointed member of the D.C. Board of Education, was unavailable for comment.

"She did explore [running] and decided that she would not run," Meyers said.

Staff writer Nikita Stewart contributed to this report.