$2.3 million raised for mayor’s bid

Campaign aides to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Friday that his 2009 reelection campaign has collected $2.3 million, an amount likely to scare away all but the most well-financed challengers.

Villaraigosa political strategist Ace Smith said the total shows “overwhelming support for the mayor’s leadership in taking on the city’s biggest challenges.”

Billionaire shopping mall developer Rick Caruso, a prolific Republican fundraiser, said last summer that he was considering a challenge to the mayor. But so far Villaraigosa’s biggest opponent is Walter Moore, a lawyer who finished sixth in the 2005 mayoral race.

Villaraigosa has spent nearly $564,000 on his campaign so far, leaving his reelection bid with $1.8 million on hand. Moore, who lives in the Westside neighborhood of Carthay Circle, raised $162,735 as of Sept. 30 and has just over $11,000 on hand, according to campaign fundraising reports.