Rick Perry raised $17 million in the last quarter.

Mitt Romeny raised $14 million.

This is good for Mitt.

Why? Because the expectations on Perry were huge. Romney’s team won the expectations game in setting the bar high for Perry, implying he would significantly outraise them. Perry did not.

And worse, Perry has a much greater need to spend that money. Romney can carefully husband his, but Perry needs to spend a lot more if he’s going to catch up with Mitt in key, early primary states (mainly Iowa and South Carolina).