A source on the Rick Perry campaign tells Hot Air that the Texas governor conducted some Texas-size fundraising in the third quarter.  Coming in just a little over halfway through, Perry raised $17.1 million.  That number would put Perry somewhere between $4-6 million ahead of Mitt Romney’s rumored total for Q3, according to this report last week from the Boston Globe. It’s also likely to far outpace Herman Cain’s fundraising or that of the other Republicans currently in the race.

The pace is even more impressive.  Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92 days of the quarter, a rate of about $349,000 a day.  The final debate in September didn’t hurt Perry’s fundraising rate, either.  In the 42 days prior to the Orlando debate, their rate was $323K per day; in the eight days following the Orlando debate, that escalated to $478K per day. Perry’s on-line operation did well, too, drawing in $1.1 million — despite, as my source says, not driving contributions with their on-line ads.

Best of all for the Perry campaign, the burn rate in the first seven weeks was negligible.  The campaign has $15 million cash on hand from its $17.1 million haul.  Team Perry wanted 18,000 contributors in this quarter, and finished with over 22,000.  More than 60% of their contributors donated $250 or less, which means that they can keep going back to them for more money.

The message that Perry’s campaign wants this report to send is that Perry isn’t going away — and that he can out-raise and out-organize the rest of the field.  With Perry taking a big hit in polling, that message can’t come at a better time.  However, Perry will need a good debate performance next week in order to truly right the ship and regain some of the momentum lost in the polls.

Update: I see Drudge has a source, too!