Gov. Neil Abercrombie raised 10 times as much money as his Democratic primary challenger David Ige in the six months since the state senator announced his candidacy.

From July 1 through Dec. 31, the governor reported $528,000 in campaign contributions, compared with just $56,226 raised by Ige, who unexpectedly announced he was joining the race on July 9.

In addition to raising barely one-tenth of the funds that the governor did, Ige’s campaign manager, Rodney Sato, quit this week.

Abercrombie, who has been raising money since his 2010 election, has received a total of $3.4 million in contributions and has $2.2 million in cash on hand. (The governor began the current election cycle with $383,000 in cash from the previous cycle.)

Ige, who had a total of $150,000 in his campaign coffers — which included funds carried over from his Senate campaign — now has only $76,508 in cash on hand.

The governor seems to be on the road to equaling or surpassing the $4.5 million he hauled in during his first gubernatorial run.

But there are signs of softening financial support for the incumbent. His campaign brought in $320,000 less during the last six months of 2013 than it did in the first six months — even though he held a half-dozen fundraisers this fall.

Mainland Fundraising

Abercrombie has raised money at several mainland campaign events. One of the fundraisers, held in Indian Creek Village, Fla., on Oct. 19 sought contributions between $2,000 and $6,000.

Given such aggressive passing of the hat, should the governor have raised more money? After all, his campaign brought in more during the first six months of 2012 than it did during the most recent filing period — $640,631 — even though 2012 was an election year when he wasn’t on the ballot.

By contrast, Ige has held just one fundraiser this fall, at M Nightclub Honolulu on Nov. 5. The suggested donation was $250.

Given the distance between the governor and challenger, the Abercrombie campaign is likely ringing in the Year of the Horse with confidence. He released his first campaign advertisements last week using a theme from his State of the State address — that thanks to his leadership, Hawaii is enjoying a budget surplus of more than $800 million.

After hearing the speech, Ige told reporters that the Legislature deserves much of the credit for the state’s fiscal turnaround. He chairs the Senate Ways and Means committee that, along with House Finance, took a chisel to Abercrombie’s budget requests. Many colleagues respect Ige’s legislative skills and fiscal-mindedness.

Ige is still building up his political operation, however, having never run for high office. Sources told Civil Beat that Ige and his campaign manager had differences over how the campaign should proceed. But Lynn Kenton, who is helping the Ige campaign, said Sato still strongly supports his candidacy and believes he’s the best candidate.

Reached by Civil Beat on Friday before the campaign filings were released, Ige said, “Rodney had done a great job.”

“He had been with the campaign for a couple of months and really moved the organization forward. The headquarters is up and we will have a grand opening shortly. So, we came a long way. He just felt like he was not able to put as much time in the campaign as he did in the past.”

But the Ige campaign’s small money haul has to be a disappointment. His campaign did not even mention the dollar amount in its press release later on Friday, instead placing emphasis on how his campaign is growing with the help of numerous volunteers.

“It’s common for the elected official holding the office to have the early advantage of larger donations, but I am confident the residents of Hawaii will elect someone for their character and not the amount of money spent on a campaign,” Ige said in the press release.

Softening Support?

Abercrombie’s campaign manager Bill Kaneko said, in a press release announcing the latest campaign spending numbers, “The Abercrombie for Governor campaign is off to a strong start.”

Perhaps. But Abercrombie is not a popular chief executive. A Civil Beat Poll in October showed that his approval rating was below 50 percent.

The governor’s latest contributions report shows relatively few donations from big name developers, business executives and labor groups. Many have already given to the campaign, but not all have maxed out at $6,000. Only a handful of political action committees directed cash his way, notably the Parsons Corporation PAC, which contributed $6,000.

Names of contributors in the latest report that stand out are familiar ones, like attorney Jeff Portnoy, a longtime friend of the governor’s, and Kaneko. Other well-known figures that gave generously to Abercrombie during the recent fundraising period include lobbyist John Radcliffe (another close friend), attorneys Paul Alston and Rick Fried, David Tanoue of RM Towill Corporation and Douglas Won, president of Sause Bros.

But there are not too many big names this time around.

Another sign of a lack of enthusiasm is the prominence of the names of Abercrombie’s own staff members in his campaign report. More than two-dozen people who work in the governor’s administration gave to help the incumbent keep his job. They include Chief of Staff Bruce Coppa and the late Loretta Fuddy, the former Department of Health director.

It is common for staff to contribute money to their boss, and Civil Beat has reported on this phenomenon in the past in relation to Abercrombie. But this year, there are signs of possible over-reliance on people who are on the state payroll. Some, like Darryll Wong, the state adjutant general, have maxed out at $6,000.

The governor is also spending his campaign money — $322,316 in the recent cycle. Much of it went to the usual campaign expenses such as food, water, coffee, T-shirts, mailing and travel expenses.

One of the larger expenditures was $13,000 to SMS Research and Marketing Services for the company’s polling work. Interestingly, the single largest expense — $62,827 — went to Strategic Outcomes LLC for “campaign management and fundraising.”

Ige’s Donors

Despite his underdog status, folks in high places have given money to Ige.

His report shows that contributors include former Gov. Ben Cayetano, University of Hawaii executive Rockne Freitas, Hawaii Tourism Authority CEO Mike McCartney, lobbyist Jon Okudara, House Rep. Gregg Takayama and Senate colleagues Roz Baker, Les Ihara, Donna Mercado Kim and Michelle Kidani.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association contributed $500. Outrigger Enterprises gave $2,000.

And, despite a modest take, Ige’s campaign spent $63,475. His greatest expense was for a downtown Honolulu campaign headquarters that costs $6,800 a month to rent.

Ige plans two fundraisers in February, and the official opening and blessing of the headquarters is soon to come.