Deal, Barnes spend $17.3 million in governor's race

ATLANTA - Nathan Deal and Roy Barnes spent a combined $17.3 million in last year's bitter race for governor.

Year-end campaign reports filed with the state Ethics Commission on Friday show Barnes spent roughly $9 million in his unsuccessful bid to win his old job back. The Democrat ended the campaign in the red, reporting $5,599 cash on hand, but also listing $88,906 in debt.

Deal, the former Republican congressman, spent about $8.4 million and had $50,673 cash on hand, according to the campaign filings.

The candidate totals don't include outside money, which poured into the race. The Republican Governors Association spent a whopping $5.5 million on a barrage of ads attacking Barnes. The Democratic Governors Association funneled at least $2 million to the state Democratic Party, according to campaign filings.

Deal will be sworn in on Monday as Georgia's 82nd governor after defeating Barnes with 53 percent of the vote. Libertarian John Monds pulled 4 percent of the vote.

Monds had not yet filed his year-end campaign disclosure.