The latest campaign disclosure reports show Roy Barnes took-in $1.3 million over the last three months. The former governor and Democrat has now raised almost $5 million since jumping into the gubernatorial race last year.

The Republican frontrunner, John Oxendine, reports contributions of a little under $870,000 the past two months. He’s raised nearly $4 million since announcing for the governor’s race two years ago. He was barred from raising money for most of April because the state Legislature was in session.

Emory University political professor Merle Black says TV ad spending for Barnes has seemingly padded his lead in the polls.  But Black says on the Republican-side, Oxendine is only a “tentative” frontrunner, and he needs to be ‘all in’ now against a crowded seven-person field.

“It’s not clear that Oxendine’s going to take that money advantage and have the same kind of lead…if he has a lead at all…in the Republican primaries, that we look for Barnes to have in the Democratic primary.”   

Other notables--GOP candidate for governor Nathan Deal brought-in $569,000 in the last quarter. The former congressman from Gainesville said Thursday he has a little more than $642,000 cash on hand. And Karen Handel reported contributions of more than $400,000 for the quarter.

Several candidates already have TV ads running...Handel’s first TV ad was released on Friday.

In the race for the Georgia U.S. Senate seat, Johnny Isakson has added more than $1 million to his campaign coffers the last quarter. In his bid for another term, Isakson now totals nearly $8 million in his campaign account.

Isakson does not have an opponent for the July 20th primary, and will face either Democrat Michael Thurmond or RJ Hadley, and Libertarian Chuck Donovan in November.

Contributors: Associated Press

Tags: Georgia, politics, election, John Oxendine, Nathan Deal, Roy Barnes, elections, governor's race, campaign contributions