Kaine, Warner Pile Up Donations

"Speaker Howell is pleased with the financial support House Republicans have garnered and with the success we've had in working to keep pace with the governor's fundraising," said G. Paul Nardo, Howell's chief of staff.

But Senate Republicans, who are trying to defend eight GOP-held seats that could be up for grabs, are having a harder time keeping up with Kaine and the Democrats.

The Virginia Senate Republican Leadership Trust, which helps get GOP Senate candidates elected, reported that it had just $42,000 in the bank at the end of September. The committee has taken in an additional $600,000 this month, half of which came from incumbent GOP senators, according to the State Board of Elections.

In individual Senate races, several Democratic challengers are keeping pace with or exceeding the Republican candidates.

In the 34th District, which includes Vienna and Fairfax City, Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis had $386,324, and her Democratic opponent, J. Chapman Petersen, reported $311,787.

In the 39th District, which includes parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties, Democrat George L. Barker reported having $173,000, compared with $92,000 for Sen. James K. "Jay" O'Brien Jr. (R-Fairfax).

In the 27th District, Republican Jill Holtzman Vogel had $213,984, and Democrat Karen Schultz had $275,734. The district covers parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties, all of Clarke and Frederick counties and the city of Winchester.

In District 28, which includes Fredericksburg and parts of Prince William and Stafford counties, Democrat Albert Pollard had $109,440, and Republican Richard H. Stuart had $41,690.

But in Fairfax County's 37th District, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli II (R) had an advantage over Democrat Janet S. Oleszek. Cuccinelli had $293,844 in the bank, compared with Oleszek's $106,720.

The Democratic Party of Virginia had $175,000 more in the bank than the state's Republican Party.

In the race for the U.S. Senate next year, Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.) and former Virginia governor James S. Gilmore III are considering running for the GOP nomination. Gilmore hasn't set up an exploratory committee. Davis started an exploratory committee Sept. 14. He had $78,000 in the bank, his campaign said.

Davis has also been raising money through his congressional committee and could use that for a Senate bid. That committee raised $222,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30. Davis's congressional committee has about $1 million in the bank.

Despite their efforts to prepare for 2008, Davis, Warner and Gilmore say they are all primarily focused on helping candidates in this fall's campaigns.

Gilmore has a political action committee that has raised $379,000 since July for House and Senate GOP candidates.

On Sept. 9, four days before he announced his Senate candidacy, Warner emptied the money out of his state committee, One Virginia. Warner used the state committee to give about $500,000 to House and Senate Democratic candidates.