Conservative leaders 'all in' for Santorum

By JONATHAN MARTIN
3/10/12 6:15 PM EST

Politico:

A group of conservative leaders pledged to raise a combined $1.78 million for Rick Santorum's campaign and SuperPAC after meeting privately in Texas this weekend with the Republican presidential hopeful, POLITICO has learned.

More than 200 conservatives from all over the country convened at the Houston Omni for a Friday fundraising reception for Santorum's campaign. They then met to plot strategy with the former senator Saturday morning, discussing how to overcome Mitt Romney's growing advantage in the GOP primary and fend off Newt Gingrich.

"The message was, 'we're all in,'" said South Dakota businessman and conservative organizer Bob Fischer, one of the event’s co-hosts.

Fischer explained that the $1.78 million represents money that, over the course of the weekend, individuals gave and pledged to raise for the campaign and SuperPAC. "It could be significantly more," he said. He declined to share the names of the donors writing large checks to the SuperPACs.

Santorum’s campaign has been badly outspent by Romney throughout the primary season and could use such an injection of cash. Such pledges are not always followed through on, but in the contribution limit-free, SuperPAC era it’s easier to raise money with a handful of deep-pocketed givers.

Many of those at the meeting were at the January gathering of conservatives at a Texas ranch where there was a vote taken to rally around Santorum as the chief conservative alternative to Romney.

Co-hosts in Houston included Fischer, Rebecca Hagelin, Richard Viguerie and Tim Lefever.

Also present were conservative leaders Tony Perkins and James Dobson.

“It was not a discussion of who to support, it was a consolidation of support,” said Perkins, differentiating the meeting with the January session. “There was a big push to raise funds. There was a sense of, ‘Now is the time to step up.’”

Perkins said Santorum’s comments Friday night at the closed-press reception were little different than what the candidate has been saying publicly.

Paraphrasing, Perkins said Santorum made clear he was in the race for the long haul and said, ‘We have a chance now and I need your help.’

Fischer dismissed Romney's lead in the delegate hunt and, suggesting a potential convention floor fight, said it was noted at the meeting that in some states delegates are only pledged on the first round of balloting in Tampa.

He indicated that Santorum was ready to go to the convention "if it's needed" and argued that the campaign was now "a two-man race."

But Gingrich’s continued presence in the race looms large for Santorum, especially ahead of Tuesday’s primaries in Mississippi and Alabama, where polls show the three candidates all drawing a significant share of the vote

“If they were to converge together you would have a majority,” said Perkins, whose Family Research Council has not endorsed in the race.

Saying it was Gingrich’s decision on whether to stay in the race, Perkins deemed the former speaker as “the most influential guy in American politics right now – he could be a kingmaker.”