Rick Perry has a lot to frown about. (Reuters)
There's a lot more detail in
this story from the
Houston Chronicle about Rick Perry's fundraising woes, but here's the most important line:
Another Perry fundraiser said he expects the Texas governor to raise between $3 million and $5 million in the final three months of 2012 — less than one-third of what he generated in the first six weeks of his candidacy.
Perry raised over $17 million in his first six weeks in the race. To only raise $5 million (let alone $3 million) in the next following three months would be a disaster. To put it in perspective: Herman Cain claims he raised $5 million in October alone.
These fundraising numbers are driven by perceptions of a candidates ability to win, and those perceptions are largely driven by polling data. If Perry somehow manages to revive his campaign in the polls, his fundraising pace will pick up, and quickly. But that's not going to happen until and unless both the Cain and Gingrich bubbles pop.