CALGARY — Fear and loathing are gripping the more moderate wing of Alberta's governing Progressive Conservative party as an upstart social conservative named Ted Morton continues his hard charge to become premier.

Facing a tighter leadership race than expected, former finance minister Jim Dinning has ramped up the rhetoric against Morton, a pillar of the old Reform Party who likes nothing better than a fight with Ottawa.

So have Dinning's supporters, who include more than half the Tories in the legislature.

Among the dire warnings was one from veteran cabinet minister Gary Mar, who predicted the party's 35-year stranglehold on power in Alberta would end should Morton, a first-term backbencher, become premier.

Thomas Lukaszuk, a rookie backbencher from Edmonton, went so far as to say Alberta would look a lot like Alabama with a Morton government and he would have to rethink his future with the party.

The rumblings began almost immediately after Morton finished a close second to Dinning in Saturday's first round of voting for a successor to the retiring Premier Ralph Klein. A second ballot this Saturday will determine the winner among Dinning, Morton and former Klein cabinet minister Ed Stelmach.

Roger Gibbins of the Calgary-based think tank Canada West Foundation suggested the rest of Canada will notice a distinct change if Morton, who comes from outside the traditional power base, emerges the winner.

Morton has railed against Alberta's $14-billion contribution to the federal equalization program, which helps poorer provinces. He wants to dump the RCMP in favour of an Alberta police force and has talked about a separate pension plan along the lines of Quebec's. He wants to implement legal protections for those who oppose same-sex marriage.

"I think it's fair to say that Mr. Dinning represents the more established party in the province and I would expect the changes would be somewhat less dramatic,'' Gibbins said Tuesday, noting that Morton has "a sharper edge'' compared with Dinning's ambassador-like approach.

In the final days before the decisive second ballot, all three candidates were scrambling to sign up new party members and boasting of endorsements from anyone who might sway the votes of those who supported the five candidates cut from the ballot after Saturday's result.

A handful of high-profile Conservative MPs, include Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and veteran backbencher Myron Thompson, have entered the fray to support Morton.

That illustrates the ideological rift between some Alberta Tories, said Art Smith, a former provincial and federal politician who played an instrumental role in Klein's rise to power.

"I'm hoping whoever is going to lead it is going to try to amend the wound, because the wound is pretty deep,'' Smith said.

If the winner can't be a conciliator and bring all conservatives "back under the same tent,'' then a future election loss could be in the cards, he warned.

Even under the perennially popular Klein, the Tories won less than half of the popular vote in the 2004 general election -- a 15 per cent drop from 2001 -- although they hold 62 of the 83 seats in the legislature.

Stelmach finished third in the first leadership vote, but he quickly collected key endorsements from three of his former rivals. He also got lukewarm approval Tuesday from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, the largest organized labour group in the province.

"We all know what Dinning did back in 1993 when he was the treasurer and rolled back everybody's salaries,'' president Doug Knight said.

"And Mr. Morton has some social policies that are just so against what we stand for, so you can do the math.''

Liberal Opposition Leader Kevin Taft figures the Tory leadership fight is good for democracy in a province often described as a one-party state.

"We are ready for whoever comes on,'' said Taft. "Let's face it, this is the first time in a long time where there's a sense of real meaningful debate involving the Tory party.''