WASHINGTON — Scott D’Amboise, one of two tea party-affiliated challengers to Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, raised nearly $223,000 during the third quarter and had about $182,000 in his coffers as of Sept. 30, his campaign reports.

But D’Amboise, a health care technician and small business owner from Lisbon Falls, has just a fraction of the money to run his GOP primary campaign against the veteran Snowe, who is seeking a fourth-term in the Senate.

Snowe had more than $3.2 million on hand as of Sept. 30 after taking in more than $792,000, according to her campaign report.

The deadline for filing Senate campaign finance reports, which are still mailed in, not filed electronically, with the Federal Election Commission, was midnight Saturday.

The D’Amboise campaign is reporting having raised $222,845 during the third quarter, more than the roughly $142,000 that was collected during the second quarter. The campaign spent $152,003 and had $182,020 on hand at the end of the third quarter.

Tyler Harber, a D’Amboise campaign consultant, said that D’Amboise does not need to raise as much money as Snowe to be competitive in winning over GOP primary voters.

D’Amboise charges that Snowe is not conservative enough to deserve GOP primary votes. Along with D’Amboise, Snowe also is being challenged from the right by another tea party movement candidate, Andrew Ian Dodge, a freelance writer from Harpswell. Dodge has not yet raised enough money to require filing a report.

Sharon Miller, a Snowe campaign aide, said last week that, “We had another strong quarter and are working hard to make sure we will have the resources needed to run the kind of tough, costly races that have unfortunately become the norm.”

Two Maine Democrats, state Rep. Jon Hinck of Portland and former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap of Old Town, are contemplating making a run at Snowe, setting up a potential Democratic Party primary to decide who takes on Snowe in the 2012 general election.

MaineToday Media Washington Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind can be contacted at 791-6280 or at: jriskind@mainetoday.com Twitter: Twitter.com/MaineTodayDC.