Patrick leads fund-raising since July

But Reilly still ahead in total cash on hand

Democratic candidate for governor Deval L. Patrick raised slightly more campaign money than Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly since July, as he struggles to offset Reilly's overwhelming money advantage for next year's campaign, state records show.

Patrick has enlisted high-profile allies such as Washington power broker Vernon Jordan, Kitty Dukakis, former US labor secretary Robert Reich, and

US Senator Barack Obama of Illinois to drum up money for the upcoming campaign. An Internet-based fund-raising engine is also generating $2,000 a day, Patrick's campaign said.

While Patrick is on track to end 2005 with about $500,000 in the bank, Reilly's war chest will near $4 million by year's end, records indicate. The main reason for the low balance, records show, is Patrick's campaign expenses: More than $1.1 million this year, or roughly twice the amount spent by Reilly, went to rent, utility bills, health insurance for staff, and consultants.

Last month, Patrick, a former assistant US attorney general, gathered $250,000 from more than 1,400 individual donors, his best month yet. All told, the Milton resident has now gathered more than $1.2 million from about 6,000 supporters in 2005, many of them writing $25 and $50 checks. Roughly 30 percent of Patrick's donations have come from out of state, according to records filed with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

Reich, who lost a bid for governor in 2002, has sent letters to 8,000 to 10,000 supporters asking them to help out Patrick. Dukakis, meanwhile, is reaching out via e-mail and telephone to a select group of Democrats who backed her husband's 1988 run for the presidency. Jordan is contacting business, political, and civil rights leaders to throw some cash and support behind the state's first credible black candidate for governor. Obama has already held a fund-raiser for Patrick that reaped $40,000 and is expected to send a mailing to his supporters across the nation shortly after New Year's, Patrick's aides say.

Patrick spokesman Kahlil Byrd said the Democrat is confident he can compete with Reilly when the race for dollars turns into the race for the nomination.

''We have out-raised the attorney general in the last five months, and a lot of it is low donors coming into the political process for the first time," Byrd said. ''The goal is to raise what we need. We feel good. We feel especially good that what Deval has been saying as he's gone around campaigning has resonated this year."

Sean Sinclair, Reilly's campaign manager, said the attorney general will not alter his strategy, now that Patrick has begun to drum up cash. He added that Reilly has not needed to look to celebrity friends to raise money.

''Tom has the best record of accomplishment and is in the best financial shape in the history of Massachusetts," Sinclair said. ''To have $3.5 million going into the election year is unheard of. . . . We've been able to do pretty darn well just having Tom do this. If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Patrick, who received million-dollar salaries at Coke and Texaco, has pledged to bolster his campaign down the stretch if fund-raising fails to deliver, but Reilly has no personal wealth to speak of. The state caps individual contributions at $500 per year.

Another possible candidate is Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, a former venture capitalist with a personal net worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars. If Romney decides to bow out of the race to run for president, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey also could step in. Her husband, president of an asset management firm, cashed out more than $13 million in company stock this year.

Also, former Turnpike Authority board member Christy Mihos is a wealthy convenience store magnate who has also expressed interest in running for governor.