2010: White's Money

A day after GOP gubernatorial opponents Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison released their latest fundraising totals, Democrat Bill White did the same. 

The former Houston mayor reported raising $2.5 million from Dec. 4, when he got into the race, and the end of 2009: about $90,000 a day, according to his campaign.

Counting "transfers and in-kind donations" his campaign has collected more than $6.2 million, with about $5.5 million remaining in the bank. That figure, you'll recall, is about half what Perry and Hutchison had on hand Dec. 31.

"The response to Bill's announcement that he'd consider running for governor was enormous, with more than 8,000 Texans emailing him to encourage him to run. Then, once Bill decided to run, those supporters responded with generous financial support," said Scott Atlas, a Houston lawyer and the campaign's finance chairman. "We'll be ready for November."

White's opponent, Farouk Shami, won't release his totals until tomorrow, a campaign spokesman said yesterday.