Rick Santorum Releases Shockingly Low 2012 Fundraising Numbers

Chuck Todd calls the $582,348 "embarrassing"

Rick Santorum raised a paltry $582,348 for his presidential campaign in the second quarter, putting him far behind most of his Republican rivals--including Newt Gingrich, who's entire top campaign staff quit but who still managed to raise $2 million. It's not for lack of effort: Santorum has made the most trips to Iowa of any Republican candidate so far. Yet he's polling at just 4 percent in the state.

As NBC News' Chuck Todd notes, Santorum's campaign knows this is an "embarrassingly low" sum, so his press release includes money donated to his political action committee that he can't actually use in the 2012 race. Santorum's finance director Amanda Kornegay helpfully reminds us, "It is worth noting that Senator Santorum didn't hold his first official fundraiser until June 22, and between that day and June 30, he raised nearly half of the money he raised as an official presidential candidate." It's not very convincing, just like Santorum's spin last week on why it's a good thing he's so far behind in the polls:

"As someone who's sitting at the back of the pack, and probably has the lowest name recognition; they're probably not talking about me... That's a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I think that's an opportunity."

And aside from trailing his Republican rivals, there's a bigger adversary on the horizon whose treasure chest is even more intimidating: As The Morning Call cruelly notes, Santorum's haul is "about 1/172 as much as Obama" raised.