Santorum: Fundraising Has Jumped Since Recent Wins

He estimates taking in nearly $1 million in 24 hours.

By National Journal staff

Updated: February 10, 2012 | 12:32 p.m.
February 8, 2012 | 6:39 p.m.

AP Photo/Sharon Ellman

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks to supporters at a rally Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, in Plano, Texas.

With three new primary and caucus wins under his belt, Rick Santorum said on Wednesday he's encouraged by subsequent fundraising that he says will help him compete with his much better-funded rival Mitt Romney.

In an interview late Wednesday on Fox News' Hannity, Santorum said he had raised "almost a million dollars in the last 24 hours" through online donations. "This has been a huge day, and we believe it will continue ... We're going to have the infrastructure and we're going to have the resources," he said.

Santorum said he intends to challenge Romney in states voting on Super Tuesday, March 6, as well as Michigan -- where Romney's father was governor and where he grew up. Michigan's primary is Feb. 28.

"We're going to spend a lot of time in the Super Tuesday states," he said in an earlier CBS News interview. "We're gonna spend a lot of time in Michigan. We think our manufacturing message will go very, very well there. And we're gonna plant the flag in a state [where] obviously the Romney name is pretty well known."

Santorum said his showings in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri are evidence that the former Massachusetts governor's strategy of attacking rivals can only take him so far.

"Governor Romney is pretty predictable when it comes to these things," he said. "Anybody that gets in his way, he just unleashes on with negative ads and robo-calls and mail and things like that.... We exceeded him by far. I think that shows the intensity level of the kind of support we have. I'm hopeful that will continue."

Santorum has long made clear he doesn't regard Rep. Ron Paul as a serious candidate. But he said he refuses to ask either Paul or Newt Gingrich, his other main rival, to drop out of the race and leave it between him and Romney.

"I think people should stay in the races as long as they believe they have the opportunity to win and that they're doing, they're accomplishing the goals that they set out to do," he said.

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