Can Rick Santorum Maintain His Momentum?
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ABC News(WASHINGTON) — The Iowa caucuses Tuesday elevated Rick Santorum, once a virtual unknown, into the national spotlight. But among the questions stemming from his newfound popularity is whether the GOP hopeful can sustain his momentum and weather the attacks to come.
Two of Santorum‘s most obvious disadvantages moving forward are money and infrastructure, especially compared to front-runner and main rival Mitt Romney.
Santorum’s super PAC — the Red, White and Blue Fund — spent a little more than $400,000 on two ads for him in Iowa, which pales in comparison to the $4.6 million outside groups spent on Romney. Even Rick Perry had a substantial money advantage over Santorum, with his super PAC giving him $3.7 million worth of help in Iowa.
Santorum and Romney spent about an equal amount of their own money in Iowa. The former congressman spent a total of $1 million on his campaign in Iowa, compared with the $1.1 million Romney spent on ad buys. But unlike his opponent, Santorum lived in Iowa for months and visited all 99 counties, while Romney conducted a whirlwind, seven-day last-minute campaign leading up to the caucuses.
The former senator from Pennsylvania doesn’t even have a bus. He trekked across Iowa in a truck driven by one of his supporters.
The money factor obviously did not affect Santorum in Iowa, where he was narrowly defeated by Romney. But it could be a game-changer in the primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, where Santorum has less of a presence than in Iowa. That was evident in a fundraising appeal by Santorum sent to his supporters Thursday morning.
“The next test is New Hampshire…a state Mitt Romney has campaigned in for over four years. This is why I need your immediate support,” Santorum wrote.
Republican analysts say Santorum has been successful in appealing to undecided conservative voters who are not necessarily activists, but he has a long way to go in proving that he’s the right candidate to beat President Obama.
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