Last week, Joe Mallahan had what may be his best fundraising week ever, bringing in almost $64,000 to McGinn's $12,000. Since the beginning of September (that would be the month he hired veteran campaign fund raiser Colby Underwood) Mallahan has raised about $105,000 to McGinn's $43,000. Mallahan's impressive fundraising numbers show that he's not the mere self-funded candidate his opponents have claimed.

Three caveats:

1. Mallahan ended the primary further in debt than McGinn, so the two candidates' cash-on-hand is more similar than those fundraising numbers suggest—Mallahan's at $152,798 to and McGinn's at $58,218 according to the latest campaign filings.

2. Mallahan's monthly overhead is much higher than McGinn's all-volunteer campaign. For example, campaign spokeswoman Charla Neuman costs the campaign $3,000 a month; three additional campaign staffers cost around $5,000 a month; and campaign consultant Argo Strategies' retainer alone is $5,000 a month. For example, Mallahan's expenses for August include $102,627 in direct expenditures and $76,369 in debts and obligations. McGinn's included just $40,600 in expenditures. So Mallahan burns through money much faster than McGinn.

3. Finally, as we've noted before, McGinn's campaign relies on volunteer work, direct outreach, and word-of-mouth, not big contributions. So the difference in fundraising, though stark, may not represent a huge difference in support.