Democrat David Pepper, a first-time candidate for Cincinnati City Council, has already raised about $126,000, nearly as much as the four incumbent Democratic candidates combined.

        Mr. Pepper is a lawyer and son of Procter & Gamble chairman John Pepper.

        The top fund-raiser is incumbent Republican Pat DeWine, who raised $172,912 through July 1, 64 percent of it in donations of $1,000 or more. Mr. DeWine, son of U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, spent $363,176 in 1999, winning a seat in his first try for elective office.

        Mr. Pepper's campaign fund dwarfs those of the other eight Democratic candidates, both incumbents and challengers.

        The closest is incumbent John Cranley, whose report showed that he had raised $62,480 and had a balance of $35,719 on July 1.

        Mr. Pepper's money came from a variety of sources, including business people like his father ($1,000) and financier Carl Lindner ($1,000).

        Some contributions came from sources that probably aren't available to any other council candidate, such as the $1,000 Mr. Pepper received from Vidal Sassoon, whose hair care products are produced by P&G and who lives part-time in Cincinnati. Mr. Pepper said the donation came after he met Mr. Sassoon at a party in Mount Adams.

        About 660 individuals and political action committees (PACs) contributed to the Pepper campaign.

        “We're proud of the support we've gotten, and particularly the breadth of that support,” Mr. Pepper said.

        Mr. DeWine and Chris Monzel, appointed to council in February, have healthy campaign accounts.

        Both Republicans benefited from large contributions from Mr. Lindner — $20,000 for Mr. DeWine and $25,000 for Mr. Monzel.

        Mr. Monzel spent a total of $22,683 two years ago for his council bid. So far this year, as an incumbent, he has raised $82,970 and had $69,676 on July 1.

        Among the Democratic incumbents, Alicia Reece has raised $47,455, including $10,000 from TV talk show host and former Cincinnati mayor Jerry Springer.

        Incumbent Minette Cooper has raised $13,777, while incumbent Paul Booth had $9,625.

        Some of the Democratic challengers are better funded at this early stage than Mr. Booth and Mrs. Cooper.

        Jane Anderson, who ran in 1999, has $26,815 in the bank for this year's run, while David Crowley has raised $45,482 and had a balance of $36,496 as of July 1. Laura Baumann, a first-time Democratic candidate, has raised $31,745 and has a balance of $12,005.

        Among the Charter committee candidates, incumbent Jim Tarbell had raised $4,385 and had a balance of $2,110. First-time Charter candidate John Schlagetter has raised $2,725 but has spent nearly $10,000. Dawn Denno, another first-time candidate for Charter, has $5,389 in the bank.

        Only candidates who had raised or spent $1,000 had to file reports Monday with the Hamilton County board of elections.

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