Jason Carter, Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, probably wasn't expecting friendly correspondence from incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal when he checked the mail on Thursday.
But that's exactly what he got. The Republican governor's campaign sent Carter an invitation to a fundraising event with a $500 buy-in later this month:
.@NathanDeal, didn't realize you were in such dire straits. Thanks for the invite. Sorry, can't make it. #RSVP pic.twitter.com/WyVlHOT37K
— Jason Carter (@carter4governor) September 4, 2014
It's hard to know whether the invitation was deliberate, but Carter made clear he will not be attending the event.
Carter, former President Jimmy Carter's grandson, announced his gubernatorial bid in January, and coasted through the state's primary without a Democratic challenger. Carter outraised Deal in the last fundraising quarter, according to July disclosures, raising more than $2 million between April and June. Deal brought in $1.27 million in the same window of time.
HuffPost Pollster, which aggregates all publicly available polling data, shows Deal ahead by fewer than 4 points with two months left before the November general election: