GOP Donors to Rick: Never Gonna Give You Up, Never Gonna Let You Down
Michele Bachmann learned that winning the Ames Straw Poll can get you a cup of coffee at Cup of Joe in Cedar Falls, as long as you have a couple of bucks. But what does coming within seven votes of winning the Iowa Caucus get you? $2 million in two days.
Enjoying a wave of momentum from his near-win in the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum’s campaign is raising money faster than ever before. Donors have added $2 million to his campaign’s war chest in the last 48 hours alone.
And a Santorum aide tells ABC News that in the space of 10 hours — between midnight Thursday and 10 a.m. — the campaign took in $250,000 of that $2 million total. The quarter-million figure total represents online contributions only.
What’s the campaign doing with that fresh infusion of cash?
For starters they are taking out a 1,000-point television ad buy in South Carolina ahead of the state’s Jan. 21 primary.
At this rate, he’ll raise $306 million by Election Day in November!
And he’s got his own SuperPAC, like Romney.
A group supporting Rick Santorum’s presidential bid is gearing up to become more active as the former senator sees his political fortunes on the rise after a surprise second place finish in the Iowa caucuses.
The super PAC Red, White and Blue is planning to go on the air soon “with a significant buy” of ad time in South Carolina, the group’s spokesman, Stuart Roy, told CNN Thursday. He would not detail when exactly the spots would go up and said the organization hoped to soon release details of the amount of the purchase.
Just as Santorum’s campaign has seen a major spike in fundraising following his strong Iowa finish, the super PAC Red, White and Blue has also seen a major spike in money coming in since Tuesday night, Roy told CNN. He would not detail an exact amount.
And what’s more, he may not have to worry about attacks from Gingrich.
Two sources confirmed that there have been discussions within Newt Gingrich’s camp about forging a nonaggression pact with Rick Santorum at the debates, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether one had been reached or that the teams had discussed it.
Such a pact would benefit both of them and potentially be problematic for Mitt Romney. However, while it has been discussed as a potential strategy in Gingrichland, one Santorum adviser professed ignorance of it.
As for Santorum and Gingrich, one source described them as liking each other, and expected any negativity to be kept low.
If they do reach a deal, I’d urge those two to find another term besides a “Nonaggression Pact.” As I noted on Twitter, if indeed Gingrich and Santorum agree to a “Nonaggression Pact,” I hope they don’t cross the state line and sign it in Moscow, Vermont. But I’m sure the campaign advisers touting the idea, Jeff Molotov and Hank Ribbentrop, will work it all out.
Actually, come to think of it, that famous nonaggression pact offers a lesson: When both parties want the same thing, like, say . . . the Balkans, or the Republican presidential nomination . . . well, all past proclamations of nonaggression get thrown out the window. And considering how Gingrich’s loud, repeated insistence that he would be running a positive campaign became inoperative as soon as Romney’s PAC started pummeling him, well . . . I’d check any potential pacts for an expiration date.
