Republicans have the upper hand in this year’s mid-term gubernatorial election between Florida Governor Rick Scott and his Democrat challenger, Charlie Crist.

Even as Rick Scott says he will be “investing” his own dollars into his re-election campaign to counter the NextGen attack ads that are aimed at him, Republicans are trouncing Democrats in absentee and early voting numbers by an margin of 47 to 36 percent of the vote.

Can Crist be counted out?

Not by a long-shot, as recent polls have the two candidates locked in a virtual tie, as Crist could be positioned to “make a dent” in that Republican early voting lead this upcoming weekend.

Here is what the rascally Salsa-dancing reporter from the Miami Herald, Marc Caputo, and Tampa Bay Times reporter Mary Ellen Klas, wrote about the race:

Whether Obama’s absence from the campaign trail helps or hurts Crist is anyone’s guess. His presence in South Florida for early in-person voting would likely help drive turnout among African-Americans, who tend to early vote in greater proportions than non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics.

Saturday and Sunday mark crucial tests for the Crist campaign’s turnout machine because it’s the first weekend of early voting, when Democrats can start to make a dent in the GOP’s 11.7 percentage point lead in early ballots cast — mostly due to mail-in absentee voting.

Despite the GOP advantage in ballots cast, the Quinnipiac poll found that Crist led Scott 42 to 38 percent among those who had already voted. That’s an inside-the-error-margin lead for Crist. And the sample size of these voters is smaller than the rest of the poll of 984 self-identified likely voters.

Factoring in the poll’s main cross-tabs that show Republican, Democrat and independent support for each candidate, Scott could lead Crist by as much as 47 to 41 percent in total early votes.

The Quinnipiac poll is the third in about a week to show a tie between the Republican and the Democrat. Neither candidate has taken a clear lead outside the margin of error in any poll.

Crist gets 41.7 percent to Scott’s 41.6 percent, according to an average of all 10 public polls released in the race taken this month. Based on those poll averages and the ballot returns by party, Crist could trail Scott by about 46 to 40 percent in early votes cast so far.

With tens of thousands of new votes daily and the advent of an expected Democratic-heavy weekend, the Republican advantage should shrink.

Democrats usually do well on Election Day as well. And they have 455,000 more voters than Republicans.

Aside from Scott unleashing his Lt. Governor, Carlos Lopez-Cantera- who is  schooling Crist’s running mate, Annette Taddeo, on how to effectively campaign and dress down a political opponent- Scott’s campaign has brought out the big GOP guns to help him stir up the base and get the vote out early.

In recent weeks, Senator Marco Rubio, former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Governor Jeb Bush, former Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortunio, and Governor Chris Christie, have all stumped in Florida for Scott.

Giuliani was just in Miami yesterday, where he stated that he “disrespected” Charlie Crist the most of all the politicians he has known.

This coming Sunday, Chris Christie will make his second visit to Boca Raton, Florida, in as many week, to help shore up Jewish support for Scott.