Helped by a viral video on YouTube, Republican congressional hopeful Allen West raised more money during the fourth quarter of 2009 than he did during his entire 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton.

An official report isn’t due until Sunday, but the West camp says it collected more than $670,000 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31. That compares to $583,897 for the losing 2008 effort.

West’s money surge signals a serious campaign that’s drawing more national attention as he makes a second bid to unseat Klein. But he’s still not in the same financial league as Klein, who had $2.2 million in the bank on Sept. 30.

The Klein camp hasn’t released an advance estimate of his fourth-quarter figures.

West’s campaign says it has about $700,000 cash on hand

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