Garden Grove Councilwoman Dina Nguyen's young supervisor campaign has posted an impressive fund raising performance, amassing $100,800 in a little more than two weeks.

According to Dina's report (filed yesterday), she received $75,800 in contributions, loaned herself $25,000, spent $12,395.42 and has $88,404.58 cash-on-hand. The vast majority of her contributions came from Vietnamese-Americans. The report covers the period January 1 through March 17, 2008.

This settles the question of whether Dina Nguyen would be able to raise enough dinero to wage a competitive race against incumbent Supervisor Janet Nguyen.

That she was able to raise so much so quickly  -- and that so many of the donors have already maxed out -- is indicative that the Van Tran operation has been planning this campaign, whether with Dina or Trung Nguyen as the banner bearer, for some time. It's a manifestation of organization and determination.

Now that it's clear Dina will be competitive, the big question is whether she'll be competitive enough to force Janet into a November run-off.

That'll take some doing, because Janet isn't exactly defenseless. She already has the advantage of already being Supervisor, and having demonstrated an ability to attract significant support outside the Vietnamese community.

According to Janet's campaign report, she raised $25,015 since the beginning of the year, no loans, $85,467.51 in expenditures, $8,175.62 in unpaid bills, and $95,500.15 cash-on-hand.

Janet's report is reflective of her support base: contributions from the public affairs donor class,, GOPers, the Vietnamese community, and assorted others.

Impressive as Dian's numbers are, I think it's a mistake to read too much into the gap between her's and Janet's January 1-March fundraising. Keep in mind Janet has been harvesting in the donor orchard for the past year, and the picking naturally gets tougher over time as donors max out and the universe of untapped primary election contributors shrinks.

Also, Janet has already paid for much her campaign infrastructure in the form of buying onto slates, and engaging in voter contact via newspaper, magazine and radio ads.

Still, given the volatile and surprising nature of 1st Supervisor District politics, it's anyone's guess whether Janet can avoid a November run-off against Dina.