Perry's Dollars Dropped Steeply in Fourth Quarter

Gov. Rick Perry has filed his year-end campaign finance totals with the Federal Election Commission. And it's not pretty.

Poor debate performances and controversial ad campaigns appear to have done Perry no favors in the fundraising department. Perry collected only $2.9 million in the fourth quarter after having the strongest performance of the field in the third quarter, when he received $17.2 million in contributions and outraised all of his Republican opponents.

The campaign spent $14.2 million in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, where Perry's fifth-place finish with only 10 percent of the vote threw the campaign into a tailspin. Of that $14.2 million, $5.7 million was spent on media alone.

Although Perry ended 2011 with $3.7 million on hand, it is still unclear how much money Perry's federal war chest has left after his final January push before bowing out on Jan. 19. At that time, Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan said the campaign had spent "the bulk of [its] funds."

Perry is still required to return any funds that were given to him for the purpose of participating in the general election. These refunds could sap what money may be left.

The campaign also reported debts totaling $93,745 as of the end of the year. A majority of this money is owed to two companies — $49,841 to Advantage Inc. out of Virginia for printing and postage, and $42,903 to Norway Hill Associates Inc. in New Hampshire for web services.

In addition to releasing year-end totals, the campaign submitted a lobbyist bundling report for the end of the year, which represents $101,250 of the contributions in the final months of 2011. Jeffrey Miller, having collected $36,250, was the largest single bundler.