Santorum Sees Fundraising Spike After Iowa Surge
After a successful showing in the Iowa caucuses, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is seeing a surge in political donations that will aid him in his quest to derail former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s bid for the presidency.
The Iowa caucus is a coveted prize for presidential hopefuls not necessarily because it is an accurate foreshadowing of who will get the nomination – in 2008, after all, John McCain finished fourth in Iowa and still got the nod from the establishment – but more so because it provides a jolt in campaign donations.
Santorum, who has been running on a shoe-string budget, is reaping the financial benefits of a successful performance in the Iowa caucus. Since losing the Iowa caucus to Romney by a mere 8 votes Tuesday night, Santorum’s campaign raised over $1 million on Wednesday alone.
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John Brabender, a chief strategist with the Santorum campaign, told Politico that at one point on Wednesday the campaign’s server went down briefly as a slew of online donations poured in.
Previously, Santorum has had no national fundraising strategy and this new found platform will allow him to compete more fiercely in New Hampshire and South Carolina where extra money will be needed for television ads.
Since January, Romney has spent $17 million while both Newt Gingrich and Santorum has spent less than one-sixth of that, according to The Associated Press.
Outside political action committees, known as super PACs, have spent millions of dollars in an effort to influence elections. Legally, they are independent from candidates. However, realistically they help either spur on or deflate a particular candidate’s surge in the polls.
The super PAC, “Red, White, and Blue Fund,” has been particularly helpful to Santorum’s fundraising efforts. While Santorum’s campaign spent a mere $4,200 on ads in Iowa, the super PAC spent about half a million dollars.
