With all the money Alderman Ted Gatsas was raising early on the in the mayoral race, it seemed this election was destined to be a record-smasher.

The picture looks a little different now.

Gatsas has slowed his fund-raising considerably since the Sept. 15 primary, so that now, with just a little more than a week left to go, his campaign is reporting a total haul to date of roughly $257,000.

That's a lot of coin, for sure, and certainly, no one expects his opponent, Alderman Mark Roy, to come anywhere near that sum. Roy says so himself, and it seems like a safe bet, given that as of a month ago, he had raised just $49,000.

But this is Ted Gatsas we're talking about, and if the bar is a little higher for him, it was his own campaign staff that hoisted it. Back in July, his finance team co-chairman, Sean Owen, said his goal was to raise between $300,000 and $350,000. Actually, he said the goal was to raise all that before the primary.

Gatsas' campaign manager, Samantha Piatt, concedes the campaign won't be reaching its earlier targets. But she also says Gatsas decided a while ago that he didn't have to.

"We have a plan, and we know what that plan costs," Piatt said.

Piatt said Gatsas staffers were inclined to reassess their goals when they saw Roy's last finance report in September. In a 20-day stretch, a period that saw Roy emerge as the de facto Democratic nominee, Roy raised only about half of what Gatsas did.

Up to that point, the Gatsas campaign had been raising money at a pace of roughly $2,100 a day. Since then, the pace has slowed to $900 a day.

"Nobody likes when somebody goes out there and raises way more money than they need and has it sitting there," Piatt said. "If donors give you something, they want you to spend it."

Roy said he doesn't know why Gatsas isn't raising as much money as he once was. But, he said, he does think there was a "backlash" to the impression Gatsas' campaign wealth was creating: "that someone was trying to buy City Hall."

CLAYTON CALLED IT: Surely, we knew New Hampshire Union Leader columnist John Clayton was a man of many gifts. But who knew one of those gifts was clairvoyance?

"Did anyone else notice that the campaign signs for the Alderman-elect from Ward 2 just said 'I'm voting for Ted Gatsas,'" Clayton wrote in December 1999, just after Gatsas won his first term as alderman. "Why, he could use those same signs to run for mayor someday, couldn't he?"

Sure could.

ALL OVER THE PLACE: Kelleigh Murphy has always been a hard woman to pin down.

Murphy, the former Democratic alderman from Ward 12, dished out a bunch of endorsements last week. Politically, they were all across the board.

Her picks include a Republican, Gatsas, for mayor; an independent, Christine Pariseau Telge, for alderman in Ward 8; and a Democrat, Patrick Arnold, for alderman in Ward 12.

Most notably, in the Ward 12 school board race, Murphy is endorsing Democratic state Rep. Roger Beauchamp over the undeclared incumbent, Eric Fischer. You may recall that it was Murphy who personally nominated Fischer for that position last year.

PLOWING AHEAD: The first snowflakes of the season fell on Manchester last weekend, which means, amazingly, it's not too early to start scrutinizing the city's snow-removal budget.

The city has gotten caught unprepared over the last few winters, twice failing to put aside enough money to clean up nature's onslaught.

Last year's deficit, according to Public Works Director Kevin Sheppard, was roughly $650,000. The year before, when southern New Hampshire saw one of its snowiest winters on record, the department ran up a deficit of about $900,000.

City officials are betting this year's winter won't be as bad as either of the last two. At the Highway Department's request, the aldermen have set aside $1.2 million.

Sheppard estimates that ought to be enough for an average winter, which is to say, about 10 or 11 storms.

"I'm not going to get caught in a trap and say I think it's going to be sufficient," he said. "Only Mother Nature can tell us what would be a sufficient snow budget."

THE ART OF COMPROMISE: The folks at Manchester Community Television are still demanding a bigger budget, but according to one station official, they're willing to settle for less than what their contract calls for.

Mike Roche, who chairs the station's advisory board, said MCTV is offering to "compromise" with city officials who slashed its budget this year. Under the proposal, the aldermen would give the station another $240,000, bringing its budget this year to about $575,000.

If that doesn't sound like a compromise, remember that MCTV has a contract with the city that entitles it to about $627,000, all from cable franchise fees.

In essence, Roche said, the station would be taking a $50,000 cut.

"This would be a compromise," Roche said, "and naturally there wouldn't be any lawsuit. We wouldn't have to."

School board member Mike DeBlasi said he views MCTV's offer as a "major concession." The station, he noted, would still be getting less than it did last year.

"This is a real good faith effort to kind of make do with half a loaf of bread," DeBlasi said.

Will Infantine, board chairman for the city's public-access station, Manchester Community Access Media, was less impressed.

"It's a good start," he said. "I don't think it's enough, and it's a little late."

END OF THE ROAD: Infantine, who is running for Ward 6 alderman, says he is looking forward to stepping down as chairman of the Manchester Republican Committee at the end of this year.

"It will be nice to give up the reins," he said.

Party elections will likely be held some time around Christmas. Infantine said former MRC Chairman Cliff Hurst has expressed some interest in the job.

ON THE TRAIL: Ward 4 aldermanic candidate Leo Pepino will be at the Aloha Restaurant, 901 Hanover St., Thursday at 6:30 p.m. To RSVP, call Stan Menczywor at 493-7349.

Read Scott Brooks' coverage of Manchester City Hall during the week in the New Hampshire Union Leader. Email him at sbrooks@unionleader.com.