Tampa mayoral hopeful Rose Ferlita announced Tuesday that her campaign raised more than $130,000 during the past three months ending September 30, the most any candidate has done so far in the nascent race to succeed Pam Iorio.
The news comes a day after Ferlita's former colleague on the Tampa City Council in the early part of the aughts, Bob Buckhorn, announced that he had raised $65,000 in the third quarter of this year and over $117,000 total.
(Buckhorn and Ferlita both won office in March of 1999; It was a re-election for Buckhorn, and Ferlita won by just a handful of votes against Scott Payne).
No word yet on the fundraising numbers for Tampa City Council Chair Thomas Scott, who was the earliest of the major candidates to declare his candidacy.
Former Hillsborough County Commissioner Ed Turanchik confirmed to CL last week that he is also a candidate, but will not formally announce until sometime next month.
Former Tampa area Congressman Jim Davis has also not ruled out a run. He is expected to make some sort of announcement after the November 2 midterm election, as is former mayor Dick Greco.
Ferlita was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.
This article appears in Oct 7-13, 2010.