Attorney Tom Perriello, the Democrats’ de facto nominee in the 5th district race against Rep. Virgil Goode (R), raised more than $340,000 in the first quarter of 2008 and will report more than $500,000 in cash on hand in his latest Federal Election Commission report, according to a release from his campaign on Tuesday.

Perriello’s report is expected to show some 1,200 donors from the district during the quarter, and his campaign touted the fact that Perriello has already raised more than any previous challenger to Goode.

Goode campaign manager Tucker Watkins shrugged off the news from Perriello’s campaign, saying that while Goode’s campaign will not hit $340,000 in its first-quarter fundraising total, Goode still expects to be leading in total cash on hand (though Watkins declined to release hard numbers). He said Goode traditionally does most his fundraising in the election year so as not to take money away from state Republicans who run in off-years.

Watkins also said that the Goode campaign is close to 2,000 individual donors in the first quarter and said Perriello seems to be employing a strategy of “frontloading” his donor base, which means maxing out individual giving amounts under FEC rules. That strategy would not allow the campaign to take further donations from those contributors later in the cycle.

Although Watkins said he couldn’t comment on Perriello’s current donor list until FEC reports are submitted, he did say that in past reports, “a huge amount of his money has come from outside the district. … It’s come from wealthy people who have allied themselves with Mr. Perriello’s liberal philosophy across the county.”
— John McArdle