One of the Thompson Associates talked to me about the fundraising numbers, and looked ahead to next week:

“I think the numbers are good. Eight million, the bulk of which came in the last three weeks, is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of Fred and Jeri,” said the Thompson Associate. “She’s great at following up and doing a hell of a job… [The $8 million] is respectable for what we needed to do. Next quarter, we’ll be judged by a different standard.”

“For now, all of the focus on the debate next week [October 9, in Detroit, on CNBC]. He’s going to be middle of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, and we’re assuming they need to take their shots at him. I don’t know what the criteria for ‘he did well’is – is it parry all the shots? Is it going to be he didn’t do well if he doesn’t lay out all of his plans in detail? It’ll be interesting to see what the criteria for success is going to be – it’s shifty and unclear beforehand,” the associate said, adding that he expects that the folks who have been criticizing Thompson from the beginning will be quick to try to establish conventional wisdom that he flopped.