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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Etheridge will report raising more than $310,000 in contributions since he entered the race Feb. 29.

The total is far less than desired, given that his main rival Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton entered 2012 with $600,000 in the bank. Dalton's head start came from his re-election bid, which was underway when Gov. Bev Perdue exited the race at the 11th hour. Dalton's campaign has yet to report its first quarter numbers. Reports are due Monday.

Etheridge is airing TV ads in five markets, draining his coffers. He will report about $110,000 in the bank as of April 21 with another $20,000 in donations coming in earlier this week, campaign finance reports show.

Both Democrats are likely to report far less than Republican Pat McCrory who is sitting on $3 million in the bank. But in 2008 McCrory had about $330,000 in the bank at this point amid his competitive primary.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton raised $322,000 in the second half of 2011 and enters the 2012 election year with about $591,000 in the bank, according to a campaign finance report filed this week.

It's not easy raising money as the relatively unknown lieutenant governor, but Dalton recently is getting attention, and sparking intrigue, about an upcoming high-dollar fundraiser featuring some of the state's biggest Democratic names.

Three Republicans are vying to challenge Dalton in the November election: Tony Gurley, Dan Forest and Dale Folwell. Of the three, only Folwell has reported fundraising numbers from the previous six months. As the No. 2 Republican in the House, Folwell raised $10,500 and has $73,000 cash-on-hand. He just entered the lieutenant governor's race earlier this month.