"The money is an indication of people's passion about this race," Christensen said. "It has not been difficult at this point to go out and raise the money, and it's coming from a broad base of individuals in this community that care about Salt Lake, as do I."

A Dan Jones & Associates poll this month of 400 Salt Lake residents who said they were likely to vote showed Christensen tied for third place among the mayoral candidates, with 13 percent of those polled saying they support him.

As the race continues, he also must counter another label he is sometimes given in local blogs and political discussions. As owner of so many gas stations, Christensen is seen by some as an oil man, unlikely to support environmental initiatives the way Anderson has and unsympathetic as gas prices rise.

"It's about as far from the truth as you can get," he said. "I have invested over the past 21 years in the retail side of convenience stores and fuel distribution. I only own half of that deal, and I have never participated in the daily operations side. I am an investor."

Christensen said his focus as a candidate isn't so much on economic development as it is on other quality-of-life factors that he believes will ultimately spur business growth.

"I think that if you do this right — focus on education, crime, the environment, transit — then economic development is easy," he said.

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E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com