Over the past two months, Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., outspent his Republican opponent in the Massachusetts Senate special election by nearly $4 million.

With fresh memories of the 2010 Bay State special election, Democrats have taken no chances against GOP nominee Gabriel Gomez in the race to replace John Kerry, who resigned to become secretary of State. That’s meant significant fundraising assistance, campaign appearances from President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — who will be there on Saturday — and an advantage on the airwaves from outside groups.

Markey raised $1 million more than Gomez from April 11 to June 5 and spent $5.5 million, according to Federal Election Commission pre-general election reports filed on Thursday. Gomez, who had about $500,000 at the start of the reporting period, spent $1.6 million over the past two months.

The pre-general period covered the last three weeks of the April 30 primaries, during which both candidates had competitive races. On April 10, the last day of the pre-primary reports, Markey had nearly 10 times as much money in the bank as Gomez.

Burnished by nearly $925,000 in small-dollar donations, $300,000 in political action committee donations and high-profile fundraisers headlined by national figures such as first lady Michelle Obama, Markey brought in $3.1 million and had $2.3 million left in the bank for the final three weeks of the general election.

Gomez raised $314,000 in unitemized donations, $170,000 from PACs and loaned himself another $300,000 on April 18 to bring in a total of $2.1 million over the past two months. That brought his total personal investment to $900,000 and left the campaign with $997,000 in cash on hand as of June 5.

On Thursday, Gomez got his first bit of help on the TV airwaves from an outside group.