COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford's challengers in next year's elections slightly narrowed the fundraising gap, but that's because the Republican received about a third less contributions in the quarter that ended Sept. 30.

Sanford's filing with the State Ethics Commission showed he raised $403,134 in cash during the quarter. While that's shy of the $642,987 the governor raised in the previous quarter, it pushed Sanford's total re-election money to $3.7 million.

The governor continued his long-held trend of raising much of his cash from large and out-of-state donors. His donors averaged $1,262 each during the quarter, and about half of the money came from people who live outside South Carolina.

"Money is not going to be a problem for Sanford," said Francis Marion University political science professor Neal Thigpen. "That fella can raise all kinds of money, and a reasonably good bit of it is out-of-state money."

Oscar Lovelace, a Prosperity physician challenging Sanford in the GOP primary, raised $85,698 in cash during the quarter and said he has $64,342 on hand.

Thigpen said that was a strong quarter for Lovelace, regarded by many as a long shot for the GOP nomination.

But even with Lovelace's showing, Sanford almost raised more than all of his opponents combined.

On the Democrats side, state Sen. Tommy Moore reported raising $242,435 during the quarter. That's better than the $208,792 he reported during the previous period.

Florence Mayor Frank Willis faces Moore in the Democratic primary in June. He raised $87,965 and had $167,742 on hand. In the previous quarter, Willis raised $192,900.

"The mayor probably tapped out everything he could up front," Thigpen said.

"This is a marathon," said Willis' campaign spokesman Joe Werner said. "This isn't a three-month spring. Would we have liked to have done better? Sure. We have to remind ourselves we have until June to get our resources together."