It’s too soon to tell if Tommy Sowers (D) is a serious threat to Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R) in 2010. But early fundraising indicates that the Army veteran could have enough funds to wage a credible effort in the southeastern 8th district.

Sowers’ campaign reported Tuesday that it had raised $205,000 between his candidacy announcement on Sept. 9 and Sept. 30, the end of the third quarter. Sowers’ take is more than three times the amount that Emerson’s 2006 and 2008 Democratic challengers raised for the duration of their campaigns.

Sowers’ campaign said it received contributions from 400 individuals in 37 states, “many of whom are current or former members of the military.— Sowers served two tours of duty in Iraq and also served in Kosovo; he returned to Missouri in July to teach at Missouri University of Science and Technology in his hometown of Rolla.

All of Sowers’ third-quarter contributions came from individual donors, except for one from a political action committee linked to Jon Powers, an Iraq War veteran who ran unsuccessfully for the House in upstate New York in 2008.