Spurred by a neck-and-neck race that has them smelling the governor’s office, Democrats had their best two-month fund-raising period ever, making the electoral money race with the Florida Republican Party mirror the contest between Rick Scott and Alex Sink: pretty much tied.

The Florida Democratic and Republican parties both raised just under $31.6 million in the two months since the primary election.

It’s hardly a tossup, however, in terms of what will be spent overall because of Scott’s willingness to dip into his own incredible personal wealth. Scott reported late Friday night that he dumped another $11.6 million into his campaign, bringing the total amount he’s put into the race to an astounding $73 million, boosting the governor’s race to the most expensive ever in the state.

Sink finished the fund-raising part of the campaign having raised about $11.2 million in cash and got about $6 million in in-kind contributions, not counting the money spent on her campaign by the party.

As pundits talk of a big year for the GOP and an expected landslide win for Republicans in the national congressional race this Tuesday, Democrats in Florida have been encouraged by Sink’s strong showing in polls – she has been ahead slightly in some, trailing slightly in others – while the Florida GOP all year has faced difficulties from a leadership and financial scandal that resulted in the criminal indictment of its former chairman earlier this year.

The Florida Republican Party’s $31.6 million for the general election campaign brings its total contributions for the 2010 election cycle to just about $60 million, according to finance reports filed Friday night. Despite its highly-publicized internal troubles, the RPOF still bested Democrats by more than $10 million during the entire two-year period.

Thanks to the Democrats’ big cash grab during the last two months -- besting by $11 million its previous best reporting period, which came during the party’s giddy runup to the 2008 election of President Barack Obama – the Democrats finish the two-year cycle having collected just under $49 million.

Republican Party officials have acknowledged that the bad press over the excessive spending on the watch of indicted former Chairman Jim Greer and the defection from the party of one of its big fund-raising draws, Gov. Charlie Crist, have hurt their money-raising cause this year.