( Reuters ) - Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani raised $11 million in the last three months, slightly more than rival Mitt Romney, and reported $16 million on hand for the final push to January's first votes.
The former New York mayor led all Republicans by raising $10.5 million for the primary nominating race and another $500,000 for the general election. That was slightly more than the $10 million Romney raised during the same period, the campaigns said on Thursday.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, also loaned his campaign $8.5 million from his own pocket, bringing the amount he has put into the race this year to $17.5 million. He has $9 million left in the bank.
Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and Hollywood actor, raised $9.3 million in the financial quarter that ended on September 30, putting him third among Republicans. He has $7 million in the bank from more than 80,000 donors.
Giuliani leads the 2008 Republican field in national opinion polls, with Thompson running second. Romney has been running strong in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the one-time Republican front-runner who scaled back his campaign after the second quarter, reported raising $6 million. That barely edged Ron Paul, the anti-war Texas congressman who reported on Wednesday a surprisingly strong haul of $5 million.
Giuliani, Romney and McCain saw their fund-raising fall from the second quarter. The third financial quarter is typically the hardest for presidential candidates, who must compete with summer vacations for the attention of donors.