Governor Fletcher says he's raised more than a million dollars for his re-election campaign since Lieutenant Governor Steve Pence left the ticket in May.

Some have said the governor's re-election chances were slim with all the political turmoil he's had over the last year, but he'll be able to run his campaign with a big bank balance.

His campaign says the Fletcher-Robbie Rudolph ticket raised the money through nine fundraisers and received donations from more than five hundred contributors.

Fletcher-Rudolph has pulled in nearly three quarters of a million dollars of the million plus-total since July first.

Fletcher says he's received support all over the state.

Fletcher's fund-raising is in stark contrast with the apparent financial woes of the state's democratic party. Published reports say state chairman Jerry Lundergan is considering taking a half million dollar loan to finance the upcoming November elections.

We first told you in July about the parties financial woes, when the party had just sixty-one thousand dollars on hand.

Officials at party headquarters say they aren't commenting about the loan and it looks like Governor Fletcher is about to get his first official primary opponent, a man he knows very well.

Businessman Billy Harper will appear on WKYT'S Kentucky Newsmakers this weekend, ahead of his expected announcement next week.

The 61-year old Harper was Fletcher's finance chairman in the 2003 campaign, but now says republicans want another option.