The general election is still more than nine months away, but the combined fundraising total for the candidates running for Susan Collins’ U.S. Senate seat already is closing in on the record set six years ago.

The Collins campaign and that of her chief rival, U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, each released statements Wednesday indicating that they raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the final quarter of 2007. The Federal Election Commission filing deadline for fourth-quarter campaign fundraising was Jan. 31.

Collins indicated she raised $963,073 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31 of last year, bringing her campaign’s fundraising total to more than $4.5 million with nearly $4 million of it as cash on hand. According to Allen’s campaign, he raised $813,000 during the same period, bringing his total to more than $3 million raised with more than $2.5 million as cash on hand.

The combined total of more than $7.5 million is within half a million dollars of the $8 million that Collins and her then-rival, Democrat Chellie Pingree, spent on their campaigns in 2002.

“This is really the most important, hotly-contested race in the recent history of the state of Maine,” Sandy Maisel, government professor and director of the Goldfarb Center at Colby College in Waterville, said Thursday. “I wouldn’t be surprised if [the total in November] is double what we’re at now.”

Chris Potholm, professor of government at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, said that how much money gets spent on the race depends on whether it ends up being close or not. The most recent independent polling, taken last fall, showed Collins with a 20 percentage point lead over Allen.

“They may have raised the bulk of their money already, based on the assumption that it was a real horse race,” Potholm said. “There’s no question it will set a record.”

According to Maisel, much of the contributions are coming from partisan sources out of state because the race has been seen as possibly controlling the balance of power in the Senate. Ever since Lincoln Chafee, a moderate Republican from Rhode Island, lost his Senate seat in 2006, when Democrats regained control of both houses of Congress, Collins’ seat also has been viewed as vulnerable, he said.

“The Republicans desperately need to defend every seat they can,” he said. “The biggest indicator of incumbent spending is challenger spending.”

In a prepared release, Carol Andrews, communications director of the Allen campaign, indicated that the campaign exceeded its 2007 fundraising goal by about $1 million. The more than $3 million raised so far represents more than half of the campaign’s anticipated goal, she wrote.

“Our campaign contributions for the last quarter came almost entirely from individuals in modest amounts,” Andrews said.

But the Collins campaign suggested that there is more money in the race besides the campaign contributions.

“We have already seen that out-of-state special interest groups are going to spend vast amounts of money [on advertising] in Maine attacking Sen. Collins,” spokeswoman Elissa Davidson wrote in a statement.

The money Collins has raised will help her respond with an issue-oriented campaign, Davidson added.

Amy Fried, associate professor of political science at the University of Maine, said Thursday that most of the money raised by the candidates likely will be spent on the media or campaign literature.

“Most of it’s going to be [spent on] some kind of communication with prospective voters,” she said. “Hopefully, what we can expect is a very well educated citizenry.”

There are two other, less well-financed candidates in the race, one an independent and another Democrat who is opposing Allen in the primary for his party’s nomination.

Laurie Dobson of Kennebunkport, the independent, indicated in an e-mail Thursday that she has not yet raised enough money to have to file a report with the Federal Elections Commission. A candidate is only required to file when raising more than $5,000 during the reporting period. Dobson said she anticipates filing a fundraising report with the FEC by the next quarterly deadline.

Sanford resident Thomas Ledue, a Democrat, has raised between $15,000 and $20,000 so far, according to Bob Doak, his campaign manager. Ledue did not file with the FEC as a candidate until after Dec. 31 and so was not required to file a fundraising report for the last quarter, Doak said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.