Larry Fortune's campaign said today that the Fresno County supervisor candidate raised $47,651 in the final six months of 2011 and had a little more than $118,500 in the bank headed into the new year.

Fortune's numbers put him well behind Andreas Borgeas, and might explain why the current Fresno City Council member turned his report into the county elections office on Jan. 6, more than three weeks before today's deadline.

Borgeas raised $142,000 in the period from July 1 to Dec. 31 of last year and had more than $230,000 cash in the bank as of the end of last year.

Money isn't everything, of course, but it certainly comes in handy when running a political campaign, and the way Fortune and Borgeas have been tangling the past week, it might be needed for essentials such as mail pieces or possibly television commercials.

For all of last year, Borgeas raised almost $270,000 and Fortune almost $163,500.

Trailing in the money race is substance abuse counselor/non-profit executive Deborah Harkness, who earlier said her campaign report will show a little more than $3,000 raised.

Both Fortune and Borgeas have buttressed their campaign accounts -- Fortune with a $50,000 loan from the real estate company he owns and Borgeas with a close to $44,000 transfer from his own Fresno City Council account.

The three candidates are vying to replace Susan Anderson, who is retiring, on the five-member board.

Among Fortune's larger donors are $3,000 from UCP LLC, a real estate management and development company based in San Diego County; $5,000 from Jeff Hildebrand, a partner in R.A. Hildebrand Farms; and a total of $7,500 from Dr. David Hodge, a Fresno pediatric surgeon. Of that amount, $2,500 came from Hodge personally and the other $5,000 was from his business account.

Also of note: Fortune, a Republican, lists a $1,000 donation from former Valley Congressman Cal Dooley, a Democrat who now lives in Virginia.

Fortune had open-heart surgery late last year, and a few weeks ago he said that had set back his fundraising. But his campaign has been kicking into gear the past few weeks.