Florida's Democrat-only Attorney General race between two South Florida state senators appears to have Dave Aronberg of Greenacres leading with $173,000 while Miami Beach's Dan Gelber raised $153,000, after returning his cash from his short-term U.S. Senate campaign.

"Wow -- and thank you. Without your commitment and without your belief in our campaign, this would not have happened,'' Aronberg told supporters in an email.

Aronberg today distances himself from a Palm Beach Post find about one of his supporters, who also solicited money for his fundraising efforts. Jeffrey R. Gibson, a Jupiter boxing instructor and partner in a hormone therapy product Web site, is also an an ex-convict whose latest arrest came as recently as last year. Aronberg says he met Gibson at a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser (see 2005 article about Gibson here) but didn't get a contribution from him. "He sent me an email but I can't control who's supporting me,'' Aronberg said. "I can control who's giving money to me.''

Gelber reported on his Twitter account that he raised $38,000 online in three weeks from 191 online supporters. He told his Facebook friends that he was pleased with his fundraising, after announcing his candidacy for AG "only 21 days before the end of the quarter, which means our campaign had the shortest time to raise money of any candidate in any statewide race. In 3 weeks we raised more than $150,000....Given the very short time to raise money, I am very happy with the outcome and grateful for your support."