Overshadowed by high profile governor and Senate races, and a couple of controversial constitutional amendments, the race to become Florida’s chief financial officer has largely flown below the election-year radar.

Two post-term limit era legislative veterans and Florida natives with deep roots are running against each other for the relatively obscure -- yet influential -- office that allows the occupant the chance to vote on numerous issues.

Republican Jeff Atwater and Democrat Loranne Ausley have spent much of the campaign trying to raise their name recognition outside their immediate home territory, which for Atwater is Palm Beach County and for Ausley is Tallahassee.

Atwater has the higher profile perch from which to run – he has served as Senate president for the last two years, which makes him arguably already one of the three most powerful people in the government, along with the House speaker and the governor. But even the leaders of the part-time Legislature find when running statewide that their fame doesn’t extend very far beyond the few blocks around the Capitol and their own hometown.

In fact, the current chief financial officer, Democrat Alex Sink, who had never held any office, defeated the last Senate president to run for a statewide office, beating Tom Lee in 2006.

Ausley left the state House in 2008 after eight years there and is a lawyer in Tallahassee. She’s well-known and well-connected in the political establishment, and her family name is on a prominent Tallahassee law firm, but she too has found that doesn’t go very far when looking for votes in Daytona, Lakeland and Pompano Beach.

Both candidates have made general statements about improving the economy, holding government officials more accountable and reducing waste.

Both have also said the CFO should have more control over the state’s $150 billion investment portfolio, the managing of which came under fire after Florida, like other investors, took a major hit when the economy tanked in 2008. The pension and other state accounts are currently overseen by a three-person board of trustees, one of which is the CFO, along with the attorney general and the governor.

Ausley has proposed that agency inspectors general be appointed by the Cabinet for fixed terms to prevent them from undue influence from the agency heads under whose discretion they now serve. The inspectors would have authority to petition the Cabinet or legislative committees regarding any investigatory disruption.

“We need to shine a light on state government,” said Ausley, who has criticized Atwater and other Republican legislative leaders for lavish spending and lax fiscal oversight.

Atwater touts the need to reduce taxes, though as CFO he would not have a direct hand in determining the state budget. As Senate president, he was among a number of prominent Republicans to sign a no-new-tax pledge.

“The people of Florida are making painful decisions every day,” Atwater told a group earlier this year. “Small businesses and families are eliminating costs and reducing expenses ... We must make those same difficult decisions.”

Both candidates have tended to focus on such broader issues that their office may not directly deal with. Ausley has tried to make the race about the Legislature during Atwater’s time as Senate president, criticizing him heavily for the Legislature’s approval of an ornate new courthouse for the 1st District Court of Appeal, which was funded during his time in the Senate. The courthouse has come under heavy scrutiny because of its cost during an economic downturn.