Political Money Line reports the following information about Santorum's March trist down to Florida to appear with the Schiavo family and then raise approximately $250,000.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) reported raising $104,500 from individuals and PACs in Florida during the first three months of 2005.

Of the itemized Florida donors they received $84,300 on 3/31.

About $42,000 of the 3/31intemized donations came from the Miami area, possibly from a 3/29 dinner in Miami.

Tampa itemized donors on 3/31 over $6,000 including $3,000 from the PAC of Outback Steakhouse. These may have come from a 3/30 luncheon in Tampa hosted by Outback according to news reports. The PAC had already given $5,000 in January.

Orlando area itemized donors on 3/31 gave over $25,000 possibly at a luncheon in Orlando on 3/29.

Palm Beach area itemized donors on 3/31 gave over $10,000, possibly at a 3/30 dinner hosted by executives of Revlon according to news reports.

Itemized disbursements did not show any expenditures in Florida, nor reimbursements for the use of a Wal-Mart jet (news reports), although they did reimburse $364.90 to UST Public Affairs Inc on 2/4 for airfare.

The Santorum 2006 Committee reported raising $1,971,689, including $1,342,785 from individuals (of which $148,333 was unitemized) and $828,903 from PACs and other committees. They spent $484,456 and had 2,847,327 cash on hand as of 3/31. Additional receipts from the above events may have come in after the 3/31 close of books.

There are a few gems in the story. First, the fact that there's no reimbursement for the use of the Walmart jet may mean that Santorum used his Senate account to pay for the trip under the guise of meeting with the Schiavo family though in reality it appears most of his time was actually spent raising money for his Senate campaign.

If in fact the $364.00 to UST Public Affairs Inc was for use of the Walmart jet to bounce to, (and around) Florida and back it seems as an awfully cheap way to travel. No Senator would attend a series of fundraisers without at least two Finance staff, so who paid for everyone? Walmart can't be really that cheap.

It may be completely legal for Santorum to fly to Florida, meet the Schiavo family and (before it was cancelled) talk about how much he is committed to privatizing Social Security all while raising a boat load of cash on his Senate travel account. It just doesn't seem like a smart move for the most endangered Republican in the US Senate.

The second part of the question is who exactly paid for the fundraisers, since one imagines they require some money for food, rent, etc. It seems implausible to me that Santorum met a group of high dollar donors at the local Outback Steak House and walked table to table collecting checks and shaking hands while each donor picked up their own dinner tab. If someone else paid there would have had to been in-kind paper trail filled out for the events. When a candidate goes somewhere to raise money there is usually a long paper trail of expenses for the event, which Political Money Line explains don't exist on this trip.

Senate reports are extremely difficult to view online and since they're turned into the Secratary of the Senate's office and then scanned in at the FEC they can't be easily downloaded and parsed like reports from House Campaigns, Political Committee's and PACs. So hats off to Political Money Line for asking the first question.

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