COAST CITIES — Although the April 11 congressional election to fill Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s seat in the 50th District is still two month away, the respective fundraising and campaigning machines are already in high gear.

The candidates released their year-end and fourth quarter fundraising numbers and filed them with the Federal Election Commission in January. Democrat Francine Busby leads the field with more than $520,000 raised in 2005, $271,000 of that coming in the last three months of the year.

Busby spokesman Brennan Bilberry said the campaign’s fundraising success is indicative that the voters are sending a message to Washington.

“The reason things are going so well is because people across the district are saying they are ready for change,” Bilberry said. “I think a lot of voters are turned off by career politicians in the mold of “Duke” Cunningham.”

The Busby camp claims 93 percent of the money raised came from California contributors, which they say distinguishes them from other candidates.

“Small individual donations make up the vast majority of our contributions,” Bilberry said.

Bilberry said Busby will be bringing her message to television, but he believes one-on-one contact with the voters is key. Busby’s Web site claims the campaign has more than $370,000 in cash on hand, as of Jan. 18.

Only one other Democrat, Chris Young, is currently running in the special election but no campaign figures were filed with the election commission by press time and no one from her campaign responded to requests for comment.

The Republican field is far more crowded, with eight people remaining in the race after businessman Ken King’s withdrawal. The front-runners in the group, financially, are former Congressman Brian Bilbray, state Sen. Bill Morrow, former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and businessman Alan Uke.

Federal documents show the Bilbray campaign only raised $5,420 last year but has more than $190,000 in the bank. Bilbray said his low numbers aren’t a concern.

“We didn’t do any fundraising during Christmas,” Bilbray said. “We thought we would give people a break during Christmas. We just had a finance meeting with community leaders. We were expecting 15 to 20 people and over 70 showed up. We raised $30,000 just from a strategy meeting.”

In contrast to Bilbray, who says he can’t afford to personally fund his own campaign, Uke has invested $300,000 of his own money in his quest to win the April election.

According to spokesman Bryan Lanza, in addition to his own money, Uke raised $95,000 in the last three weeks of December. Lanza said Uke was not worried about how much the other candidates had raised.

“I’m not sure how the rest of the field affects Alan’s plans,” Lanza said. “He just continues to call his friends. The voters will make their decision for us on April 11.”

Uke is one of the few candidates who is already airing TV spots to get the name recognition he needs.

Morrow already has the name recognition other candidates are working to achieve. In a poll released Jan. 9 by an El Cajon-based company, Datamar Inc., only 31 percent of those polled said they did not recognize Morrow’s name. He also received the highest “favorable” response from voters with 29 percent.

According to election board documents, Morrow has $213,000 in cash on hand, with $200,000 of that coming in the fourth quarter of 2005. Morrow campaign spokesman Vartan Dijhanian said Morrow is pleased with the amount he has raised thus far, but realizes he has to raise more to win on in April.

“We’re continuing to raise thousands of dollars every day,” Dijhanian said. “If we continue like this we will raise more in the upcoming cycle than we did in the last quarter.”

Kaloogian said he raised more than $142,000 in the last quarter, bringing his war chest to more than $170,000 to date from local, statewide and national contributors.

He said he is putting all of his energy into raising funds and getting out to meet voters.

“I’m working it hard,” Kaloogian said. “It’s all about getting my supporters to the polls.”