The search for a conservative alternative to Mitt Romney has former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum moving ahead to South Carolina just one day after his disappointing fifth-place finish in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primaries.
Santorum, who finished with a close second in the Iowa Caucuses Jan. 3, trailed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich by 49 votes Tuesday.
Polls show Santorum ahead of the pack in the Palmetto State, trailing Romney in second with Gingrich behind with a close third, according to the RealClearPolitics average, released prior to the N.H. primary results.
Whereas Santorum relied on a 99-county strategy to nearly take the Iowa Caucuses, television now becomes a huge part of his strategy with the average viewer expected to see a Santorum ad up to 10 times before the primary.
The Santorum campaign announced it had raised over $3 million since Iowa, and are nearing the completion of a $1 million money bomb to fund their South Carolina activities. Donors have contributed over $896,000 since Jan. 9, as of press time.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's South Carolina fundraising appears to have stalled, with just under $250,000 in contributions to report as of press time. But, that hasn't deterred Perry, who has counted the Palmetto State as part of a strategy to win the south, from modifying their website flag to mirror the South Carolina flag.
Perry took sixth place in N.H. Tuesday, with 1 percent of the vote.
--Brandon De Hoyos, Guide to IM
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