Two of the three remaining contenders in the race to lead Alberta's Tories — Jim Dinning and Ted Morton — have ended weeks of fairly polite campaigning to trade open jabs as the second ballot approaches.

Dinning had refused to take shots at the other seven contenders to head the governing Progressive Conservatives.

But that changed after the first round of balloting on Nov. 25, which left Dinning, Morton and Ed Stelmach battling for supporters before the second and final vote on Saturday.

Candidates	Votes
Jim Dinning	29,470
Ted Morton	25,614
Ed Stelmach	14,967
Lyle Oberg	11,638
Dave Hancock	7,595
Mark Norris	6,789
Victor Doerksen	873
Gary McPherson	744

Before a roomful of supporters on Monday, Dinning unloaded on Morton, alleging the Tory backbencher wants to get rid of the RCMP, supports private healthcare and would harm the province's image in the rest of the country.

Ted Morton tells reporters Tuesday that Jim Dinning is campaigning on fear.
(CBC News)

He painted Morton as an extreme candidate with deep roots in the former Reform Party who would alienate moderate Albertans and other Canadians.

"Ted Morton's Alberta is not my Alberta," he said.

"He apparently doesn't care about our heritage or our history."

Liberal tactic: Dinning

Morton said Monday that he was unfazed by the attacks, saying Dinning was desperate and accusing him of resorting to campaigning on fear.

"This is a Liberal tactic. It's the tactic that Paul Martin tried to use on Stephen Harper and if Jim resorts to that on me, it won't work."

For his part, Morton has spent much of his campaign accusing Dinning, a former finance minister, of being part of a party establishment run by backroom boys and corporate interests.

He has also tried to stir up anti-Ottawa sentiment by railing against equalization payments to other provinces and judicial activism in the courts.

Jim Dinning greets a supporter Tuesday on the campaign trail.
(CBC News)

Morton said momentum is on his side.

He called the first ballot results an "earthquake" that has Dinning scrambling to reclaim a prize he once thought was his for the taking.

Stelmach vs. Morton?

Tory party memberships are still available during the week. The candidates and their campaign workers have been busy wooing new supporters as well as trying to persuade existing members to join their camps.

Dinning has said he considers Morton his only competition, while Stelmach and Morton say the race is really between the two of them.

"I kind of do agree with Ted [Morton], that the race is between Stelmach and Morton. And we have the number of votes to bring us to the top," Stelmach said Tuesday.

Stelmach has already secured the support of failed candidates Lyle Oberg, Mark Norris, and Dave Hancock.

100,000 ballots cast

Overall voter turnout was strong on Saturday with nearly 100,000 ballots cast in the battle to replace Ralph Klein, twice as many as the first ballot in Alberta's last Tory leadership contest 14 years earlier.

The vote saw former treasurer Dinning ahead with just under 30 per cent of the votes, followed by backbencher Morton with 24 per cent.

Stelmach, the former intergovernmental affairs minister, had crept up to 20 per cent.

With files from the Canadian Press