Perry leads Romney in campaign cash, but hints of trouble ahead (The Ticket)

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

With less than three months to go before voters begin casting their ballots in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, Texas Gov. Rick Perry narrowly leads rival Mitt Romney in cash in the bank.

But a financial report filed with the Federal Election Commission over the weekend hints Perry may face serious trouble raising more cash for his GOP primary bid unless he can turn his struggling campaign around.

The Texas governor outraised his GOP rivals?bringing in roughly $17.2 million in just seven weeks. But Perry relied heavily on large donors from his home state, a potential sign of his limited appeal among Republicans nationally.

According to his FEC report, roughly $12.3 million of Perry's third quarter total from donors who gave the maximum $2,500 to his campaign.? Less than $700,000 of Perry's cash came from donors who gave $200 or less. That's roughly 4 percent of Perry's overall fundraising total--a potentially bad sign for the governor's appeal among grassroots voters.

By comparison, Romney raised slightly under $2 million from small donors or about 14 percent of his overall $14.2 million total.

While Perry aides insisted the governor's fundraising didn't take a hit from his dismal debate reviews, NPR's Peter Overby notes in an analysis that Perry's fundraising dropped 60 percent in the week after his first debate appearance while Romney's donations jumped 50 percent.

Whether Perry can continue to keep pace with Romney financially heading into the heat of the primary battle is unknown, but he does currently have more cash in the bank than the remainder of the GOP field combined.

Of course, no Republican candidate is coming close to the financial numbers being posted by President Obama's re-election campaign. Obama raised more than $42 million for his re-election campaign and roughly $27 million for a joint fundraising committee between his campaign and the Democratic National Committee. ?As of Sept. 30, the Obama campaign had $61.4 million in the bank?more than all of the Republican field combined.

Here's a quick look at the financial stats reported by the 2012 GOP hopefuls for the third quarter:

Rick Perry

Raised $17.2 million; Spent $2.1 million; Cash on Hand: $15.1 million

Mitt Romney

Raised $14.2 million; Spent $12.3 million; Cash on Hand: $14.7 million

Ron Paul

Raised $8.3 million; Spent $7.6 million; Cash on Hand: $3.7 million

Michele Bachmann

Raised $4.1 million; Spent $6.2 million; Cash on Hand: $1.5 million

(Debts: $549,604)

Herman Cain

Raised $2.8 million; Spent $2 million; Cash on Hand: $1.3 million

(Total includes a $175,000 personal loan from Cain)

Newt Gingrich

Raised $807,962; Spent $776,767; Cash on Hand: $353,416

(Debts: $1.2 million)

Jon Huntsman

Raised $4.5 million; Spent $4.2 million; Cash on hand: $327,614

(Total includes nearly $2.3 million in personal loans from Huntsman)

Rick Santorum

Raised $704,199; Spent $743,757; Cash on Hand: $189,557

(Debts: $71,866)

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

? Warren Buffett would likely pay no income taxes under Cain's 9-9-9 plan

? More Americans than Chinese can't put food on the table

? Obama loses Hulk Hogan's support

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20111017/el_yblog_theticket/perry-leads-romney-in-campaign-cash-but-hints-of-trouble-ahead

outlook the young and the restless the young and the restless dc universe online hillary clinton digestive system solon