On Tuesday, Rick Santorum reported the best fundraising month of his entire campaign. In February, Santorum, who was not expected to still be in the race at this point, raised $9 million, second only to Mitt Romney in the Republican primary field. That is $3 million more than he raised for his entire campaign prior to entering February.
Unlike his biggest opponent in the Republican primary, Mitt Romney, Santorum raised the majority of his money in February from small donors giving $200 or less. Those donors accounted for 52 percent of all contributions to his campaign last month. Meanwhile, donors giving $2,500 or more to his campaign accounted for about 11 percent of all donations.
Santorum's campaign has been noted for its lack of an ordinary campaign infrastructure and shoestring budget. This has cost the campaign delegates as it has failed to register slates of delegates in certain districts and, in Virginia, failed to get enough signatures to appear on the ballot at all. Still, the little-campaign-that-could has proven itself a mighty challenge for the well-organized and better financed Romney campaign.
The Santorum campaign reports spending $7.8 million in February and ended the month with $2.5 million cash on hand and more than $900,000 in debts.
The biggest expenses the campaign incurred in February were media payments and placements made to and by Santorum's chief consultant John Brabender. The campaign paid Bradender's firm $3 million in February while still owing the firm close to $500,000.
Other big expenses came from expenses directly connected to fundraising: direct mail, $1,267,536, and list rental, $737,924. This means the campaign raised about $4.4 for every $1 spent on fundraising costs.
Evidence of Santorum's small campaign comes in the form of the $8,845 the campaign paid in payroll expenses. That is dramatically lower than the Romney campaign and barely a fraction of what the Obama campaign spends on its massive staff.
Another expense that might seem odd is the $20,000 loan repayment the campaign made to the candidate himself. This loan repayment comes despite the campaign carrying more than $900,000 in debt to other businesses and individuals other than himself.