Republican mayoral challenger Mark DeSantis said his campaign will raise some $300,000 by Election Day, a huge amount of cash in a Democrat-dominated city.

That would be 30 times the amount Republican Joe Weinroth collected in the run-up to his failed bid against late Mayor Bob O'Connor in 2005.

While it is far less than the $750,000 DeSantis fund-raiser Jim Roddey predicted in August, it stacks up well against collections by leading Democrats the past two years. Mr. O'Connor raised $347,000 in the final months of 2005 and incumbent Mayor Luke Ravenstahl collected $260,000 in 2006, in advance of this year's Democratic primary.

The city record for campaign spending is the $1.44 million Mayor Tom Murphy spent defeating Mr. O'Connor in 2001.

Detailed financial reports are not due until tomorrow, but Mr. DeSantis told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board that the collections are clearly adding momentum to his campaign.

"We can see blips on our Web site with respect to traffic and contributions ... People are responding and the spikes are getting larger and larger," the South Side tech firm president said.

Mr. DeSantis said his campaign also is attracting some 300 volunteers, many of whom are Democrats and independents, which he said should be scaring the incumbent.

"What strikes me as strange is what little effort he's put into this campaign," Mr. DeSantis said. "If I were him, I'd be very, very nervous."

Mr. Ravenstahl is set to meet with the newspaper's editorial board today.

His campaign spokeswoman would not release their financing total but said, "We have exceeded our expectations with regards to fund raising and will continue our fund-raising efforts to support our grass-roots campaign."

In other comments yesterday, Mr. DeSantis pledged to:

Wring more funds from non-profits for the city budget. Besides dedicating their voluntary contributions to the city pension fund, he also would approach hospitals about providing discounted or free health care to city retirees, in the form of a contribution.

Slow down the use of tax increment financing for development projects. "In many respects, we've used these TIFs in a desperate attempt to try to generate some kind of spontaneous generation of wealth, and it doesn't work," he said.

Consolidate city and Allegheny County services and governments, with approval by voters in a referendum. "I would love to be the last mayor of Pittsburgh -- the Pittsburgh we know now," he said.

The special election for the two-year mayoral term is Nov. 6. Other candidates include Libertarian Tony Oliva and Ryan Scott of the Socialist Workers Party.