As potential evidence of a post- debate surge, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign said today it raised $111.8 million during the first half of October.

The total includes dollars donated to Romney’s campaign as well as related committees associated with the Republican National Committee from Oct. 1 to Oct. 17, the campaign said in a news release. Romney’s campaign, the RNC and state party participants have approximately $169 million cash on hand.

Spencer Zwick, Romney’s national finance chairman, said in a statement that the number shows “momentum and strong support” for the Republican challenger’s campaign.

“There are less than two weeks left, but we still have much hard work to do to ensure that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan win in November and bring real change to Washington,” he said.

Romney has seen improvement in his national and state-level polling numbers following three debates against President Barack Obama held this month.

Almost 92 percent of the donations received during the period were of amounts of $250 or less, and those contributions represented $38.1 million of the total, the campaign said.

Obama’s campaign hasn’t released comparable fundraising figures for the first half of October. Fundraising reports for Oct. 1-17 are due to the Federal Election Commission by midnight tonight.

To contact the reporter on this story: John McCormick in Chicago, at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeanne Cummings at jcummings21@bloomberg.net