The economy has taken a toll on the 2010 governor’s race. Jason Shepherd, 11th District Republican party director, explained to Rome civic leaders Monday that fundraising by both Republican and Democratic candidates for governor has been well below the dollars contributed in each of the past two gubernatorial races.

According to Shepherd, former Gov. Roy Barnes had raised $3.6 million through March 31, far and away the leader among the Democrats. Attorney General Thurbert Baker’s campaign had taken in $1.2 million. David Poythress’ campaign has netted $781,000 and DuBose Porter has received $379,000 in contributions.

Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is leading the Republican candidates with $2.2 million in contributions, followed by Nathan Deal with $2 million, Eric Johnson with $1.9 million and Karen Handel with $1.3 million.

Shepherd said the total was about 69 percent of the figure that had been raised through a similar time frame prior to the 2006 election — when Mark Taylor and Cathy Cox were vying to challenge Sonny Perdue —and only 57 percent of what Barnes alone raised in his bid for re-election eight years ago.

In a presentation to the Rome Kiwanis Club, Shepherd said that the strength of the TEA party in Georgia could be gauged by the 9th District Georgia House run-off Tuesday. The movement has heavily endorsed Gordon County’s Tom Graves in his battle with Lee Hawkins from Hall County.

Shepherd, a candidate for the House District 37 seat in the Marietta area, said the campaign season will be highly concentrated this year. He said runoffs are likely in a number of races, and the time frame between the end of the runoff and early voting for the November general election amounts to only six weeks.

“We’ve never had this many open seats for constitutional offices from the governor on down.” Shepherd said. He told the Rome Kiwanis Club there are advantages to voting early. “You won’t get all those robo calls because you’ll be marked as having voted,” Shepherd said.

Early voting started Monday in Floyd County. Voters can cast ballots at the Floyd County Elections office at 12 E. Fourth Ave. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.