fuel leak related to power loss?

I have been experiencing an occassional power loss for quite some time now. A while back i took care of this problem when i found a loose clamp on the hose going to the hand primer pump. After tightening it and bleeding the system it took care of the problem.
Now i have a small fluid leak that i believe is coming from the bottom of the clear sediment bowl on my FM100. It is too difficult to tighten in its current position, so i have been putting off removing the FM100 filter.
Anyway, my question is this, can a small fuel leak like that be responsible for power loss?
Before suspecting this i removed the tank to check and clean the screen filter. Too my surprise it wasn't clogged.

Thanks, christopher