If building a campaign war chest is any measure, Hardie Davis and Harold Jones are running neck and neck in the race to replace former state Sen. Ed Tarver.

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Davis maintained his slight fundraising lead in the month leading up to today's special election runoff, raising $75,185 to Jones' $73,621, according to their most recent contribution-disclosure reports filed with the State Ethics Commission.

However, Davis' sum includes a $2,000 in-kind donation, the use of his Broad Street headquarters office from Castlerox Properties of Georgia. Take that out of the mix, and Jones leads by $436.

An analysis of their itemized contributions -- all donations of $101 or more -- by The Augusta Chronicle found trends in the sources of support for both Democrats.

According to the campaign finance reports they filed at the end of December and the ones they filed Friday, Davis is leaning heavily on special interest groups and out-of-area donors, while Jones has received a major boost from one specific interest group: the local legal community.

More than a quarter of Jones' funds, $20,425, has come from Augusta-area attorneys and law firms.

For example, he received $2,000 from his own firm, Shepard, Plunkett, Hamilton & Boudreaux; $2,000 from Fleming, Ingram, Floyd & Leopard; $500 from Allgood & Mehrhof; and $500 from Monique Walker -- daughter of jailed former Sen. Charles Walker, who once held the District 22 seat Jones is seeking.

Jones, who was the city's solicitor general before quitting to run for Senate, also received $500 from private probation company Sentinel Offender Services.

Of Davis' total, nearly one-third -- $23,440 -- came from contributors outside the Augusta metro area, including $2,400 from the Civil Justice Political Action Committee in Atlanta, $1,390 from the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia PAC in Cumming and $1,000 from the Georgia Oilmen's Association in Lawrenceville.

Of the out-of-town amount, $6,050 was raised from outside the state, including $750 from Eli Lilly and Co. in Pointe Vedra Beach, Fla.; $500 from Procter & Gamble Co., of Cincinnati; and $250 from Cancer Treatment Centers of America, of Schaumburg, Ill.

Jones, in contrast, raised only $10,250 -- 14 percent of his total -- from outside the area and only $3,950 from outside the state.

Davis, who was Augusta's state House District 122 representative before launching his Senate run, also accepted $2,050 from lobbyists, including two people registered to lobby on behalf of Atlanta Gas Light, one registered for AT&T, one registered for Atlanta Gas Light and AT&T and one registered for CSX Transportation. He also received a $200 donation, not part of the lobbyist total, from Atlanta Gas Light President Suzanne Sitherwood.

Davis received another $12,440 from entities that are listed in the ethics commission's online database as registered to use lobbyists, including $1,000 from All Children Matter-Georgia, $500 from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, $250 from The Coca-Cola Co. PAC and $250 from T-Mobile.

Jones received no money from lobbyists and only $1,500 from entities that use them -- $1,200 from Vote Choice, a PAC for Planned Parenthood, and $300 from the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Davis' donations from lobbying groups come as no surprise, said 10th Congressional District Republican Party Chairman Dave Barbee, particularly from communications and energy interests. In the House, Davis served on the Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee.