South Carolinians can expect to soon see an onslaught of campaign ads in the next two weeks before its primary on January 21. Santorum’s campaign will soon go up with a major buy there. Mitt Romney has commercials on the air, and the super PAC supporting him, Restore Our Future, also has commercials on the air in the Palmetto state.
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.
"It was a terrific day yesterday, and that has continued today,” Roy said.
He added that Wednesday was the single largest day of fundraising for the group and said the pace on Thursday “has been very similar to yesterday’s pace.” The group has seen previous donors give more donations, and some who earlier refused to give are now reversing themselves.
Because it had limited funds, Red, White and Blue spent $289,000 on commercials in Iowa, according to CNN’s ad consultant Kantar Media’s CMAG.
Conservative activist Foster Friess, a major Wyoming investment executive, confirmed to CNN he is one of the major supporters behind Red, White and Blue and vowed to CNN to help increase the group’s ability to put out a message supporting Santorum.
“I have been a fan since I met Rick Santorum in 1996,” Friess told CNN by telephone Thursday. He went to Iowa this week and campaigned alongside Santorum in a pickup truck along with a small group of others and spoke at one of the precinct caucuses on the former Senator’s behalf Tuesday night.
He refused to say how much he so far has donated to the group. “I don’t want my wife to find out,” he joked.
Friess, who donated to Romney in 2008, is so jazzed by Santorum’s rise he returned CNN’s request for comment shortly after leaving knee surgery and was planning to call at least 10 major donors later Thursday to push them to donate to the super PAC.
“I just got rolled out of surgery,” he told CNN and joked he was going to start calling right then.
“I am so committed,” he added, saying he believes Santorum will be the strongest challenger to President Barack Obama. “I am going to encourage any person I know.”
