Mayoral candidates are beginning to announce how much money they have raised since January, and the numbers are strong for two of the candidates as we await word on how the entire field has fared.

Metro Councilman At-Large and mayoral candidate David Briley is filing campaign finance disclosure forms today showing $131,399 raised and $150,941 in cash on hand.

Former Metro Law Director and Public Defender Karl Dean hasn't been sitting on his hands either. Dean's campaign manager Jim Hester says the campaign has raised over $165,000 in the same period, but officials have yet to tabulate exactly how much is on hand.

These campaign finance disclosures cover the period from January 16 through March 31, 2007.

For the entire campaign, Briley has raised over $257,000, Dean approximately $321,000. Both campaigns said their candidates have made no loans or donations to their respective campaigns in the past quarter.

While the Dean camp says that it won't be able until next week to give more details on where the contributions came from and how the cash has been spent, the Briley campaign says that $25,000 now in its coffers came in from online donations alone.

"We're definitely on track to win this election in August," said Finance Chair Jerry Martin, a Nashville attorney. "We expanded our donor base this quarter to include larger contributors, and we made internet fundraising a priority."

NashvillePost.com will report the disclosures of the campaigns of candidates Bob Clement, Buck Dozier, Kenneth Eaton and Howard Gentry as they become available. Full disclosures are not required by law until next week. The election is set for August 2nd.