Deal, Barnes both raise more than $2.7 million for the quarter

Roy Barnes and Nathan Deal spent the past three months nearly neck and neck in raising money for their fight to be the next governor of Georgia.

In reports filed Thursday with the State Ethics Commission, Barnes, a Democrat, said his campaign brought in $2.8 million from July 1 through Sept. 30. Deal, a Republican, raised $2.7 million.

Barnes’ campaign said 90 percent of the contributors were from Georgia and 54 percent were for $250 or less.

Barnes counts among his donors people from Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Muscogee, Clarke, Bibb, Hall, Chatham and Richmond counties. He said he has kept a campaign commitment and not accepted any contributions from Georgia lobbyists.

“This report indicates the broad, grassroots appeal Roy has across the state of Georgia,” Barnes spokesman Emil Runge said.

Barnes reported spending $2.3 million over the last quarter and having $1.6 million left on hand. Deal, meanwhile, is sitting on more than $1.7 million for the final stretch run before the Nov. 2. election.

Thursday midnight is the deadline for candidates to file the reports detailing how much they raised and spent in the quarter. Libertarian John Monds had not filed his report as of 7 p.m.

Deal has raised more than $6.2 million since launching his campaign May 1, 2009. Barnes has pulled in $7.8 million since July 2009.

In other reports filed Thursday:

• Karen Handel, the former secretary of state whom Deal beat in the Aug. 10 Republican runoff, spent more than $100,000 to bring Sarah Palin to town to campaign on her behalf.

But it came at a high cost. Handel’s campaign spent more than $100,000 for the visit by Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate.

Handel’s campaign paid an Ohio jet charter service nearly $92,000 and her latest campaign finance report shows it was for the Palin event. Handel also paid an additional $13,000 in expenses to the InterContinental Hotel in Buckhead for the event.

Handel’s quarterly report shows her campaign committee to be $28,000 in debt, with another $55,000 in outstanding expenses.

• For the past several years Gov. Sonny Perdue’s political action committee has been sitting on several hundred thousand dollars.

Late last month, Perdue PAC made a major deduction from its account. Perdue PAC gave $120,000 to the Georgia Republican Party’s “Victory 2010″ on Sept. 28, according to campaign finance reports released Thursday.

It’s the first report the PAC has filed since being formed in 2007 following Perdue’s 2006 re-election campaign.

The new report shows that Perdue PAC spent nearly $200,000 in the reporting period. Besides the contribution to the state party, most of the money went for overhead, such as rent and utilities.

Only two contributions were recorded in the reporting period of July 1 through Sept. 30: $20,000 from Cincinnati businessman R.H. Castellini and $300 state Senate candidate Garry Guan of Norcross.