Pro-Santorum SuperPAC Buys Ad Time in South Carolina
ABC News has learned that a SuperPAC which supports Rick Santorum, the Red, White and Blue Fund, is going up with TV ads in South Carolina. This will be the first time the SuperPAC is on the air in the "First-in-the-South" state. The total outlay is $190,000, according to people familiar with it and it will air in Greenville, Charleston and Columbia.
Santorum is campaigning today in New Hampshire and will take part in Saturday night's ABC News / Yahoo News debate there. But he has shifted the focus of his campaign to South Carolina, where he hopes to be able to appeal to conservative and evangelical voters after his strong second place finish in Iowa this week.
The super PAC's South Carolina buy is on top of the previous $530,000, which the group spent to run ads in Iowa ahead of the caucuses there, according to a GOP source tracking advertising spending.
The Santorum campaign is legally barred from coordinating with the Red, White and Blue Fund.
The ad itself is positive and paints Santorum as a principled conservative. It includes a clip from his speech after the Iowa caucuses.
A CNN/Time/ORC poll released today shows former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 37 percent support in the state. Santorum trails with 19 percent.