Santorum stumbles in second-quarter fundraising

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) has raised about $608,000 for his longshot presidential bid, as he pulled in money at a slower clip than most of his GOP presidential rivals.

The figures average out to a paltry $20,000 per day, well behind every other presidential candidate that filed fundraising figures by 5 p.m. on the filing deadline.  Santorum announced at the end of May, leaving him just more than a month to raise money.

{mosads}By comparison, former Gov. Rick Perry (Texas) brought in $40,000 a day, Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) raised about $150,000 a day, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush raised about $700,000 per day. 

Santorum, the runner-up for the 2012 nomination, ends the cycle with $232,018 on hand after spending more than half of his second-quarter haul, because he started with no money in the bank.

He’s also expected to be supported by a super-PAC funded in part by wealthy businessman Foster Friess, who bankrolled the super-PAC effort for Santorum in 2012. 

The former Pennsylvania senator is currently polling at 11th in RealClearPolitics’s average of polls. If that position holds, he’ll be on the outside looking into the first Republican debate that includes the top 10 candidates.