Rick Santorum is quickly learning the ropes of being a serious contender for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. First you win a significant primary or four, then you attack front-runner Mitt Romney as insufficiently conservative and then you deny any knowledge of the organization raising millions of dollars in your behalf.

The former U.S. senator managed to accomplish all of that since his three-state sweep of Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado this week. On the trail in Oklahoma City today, Santorum decried Romney's "gotcha politics," and complained that Romney is not focusing on the issues - a nearly verbatim reprisal of Newt Gingrich's lament when he threatened the former Massachusetts governor's preeminence in South Carolina.

Mixing it up with reporters at his campaign event, Santorum was asked a question that by now has become a 2012 campaign standard:  "Senator, who is Foster Friess and how dependent are you on his donations?"

Not to rain on Rick Santorum's parade, but the man needs help from Wall Street or Big Gambling and he needs it quick. The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and perennial underdog managed to win not one but three states holding caucuses and a primary last night. But clear away the confetti and it's an unhappy fact for the would-be threat to front-runner Mitt Romney that he is just about broke.

Santorum's campaign had just $279,000 left in the bank at the beginning of the year, a paltry sum by presidential campaign standards and light years less than conservative rival Newt Gingrich ($2.1 million) or libertarian rival Ron Paul ($1.9 million). It was multiple light years less than Romney's $20 million. Even the hapless Jon Huntsman was able to put a few more pennies together. He raised nearly $6 million by December 2011, to Santorum's $2.2 million. 

The Nearly Mainly Almost Certain Nominee of the Republican Party won't lose much sleep over last night's unfortunate results in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

President Obama's ad-makers may have to pay royalties to Clint Eastwood after a remarkable two-minute Chrysler commercial that aired on the biggest of all stages - the Super Bowl - and gave a pretty good preview of what the president's reelection commercials might look like. At the very least, the ad and Eastwood's powerful narration make it much, much more difficult for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney to keep pushing his line that Washington should have let the automakers go into bankruptcy.

And don't think that Team Obama wasn't watching the Super Bowl along with millions of other Americans and immediately grasped the boost they could get from the commercial. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer quickly tweeted "Saving the America auto industry: something Eminem and Clint Eastwood can agree on." Senior strategist David Axelrod tweeted "Powerful spot. Did Clint shoot that, or just narrate it?"  Former White House aide Bill Burton tweeted, "Clinton Eastwood #winning."

Of course, this isn't the first time Eastwood has been identified with cars -- he starred in Pink Cadillac in 1989 and Gran Torino in 2008. But those weren't in the Super Bowl with a bigger audience than probably saw both those movies combined.

RELATED: Chrysler Super Bowl Ad Removed From YouTube

With 30 second spots selling for $3.5 million, the commercial cost Chrysler an estimated $14 million and was kept under wraps by the automaker, which, with the help of the Obama administration, has come back from the dead after being counted out in 2009. And one can only guess what the automaker paid Eastwood. Whatever, it was worth it for it was a master stroke. The 81-year-old actor has told interviewers he has always voted Republican for president, though he has endorsed some Democrats in California and has praised libertarians.

The commercial itself was reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" commercials, though with the famous Clint Eastwood tough guy touch. Shown shortly after Madonna's halftime performance, it began with the silhouette of Eastwood, walking in the dark and recognizable only for his gravelly voice. "It's halftime. Both teams are in their locker room discussing what they can do to win this game," he says. "It's halftime in America, too." With scenes of an iconic front porch and a city skyline," he continues, "People are out of work and they are hurting. They are all wondering what they are going to do to make a comeback. And we're all scared because this isn't a game."

With more every day scenes flashing on the screen, Eastwood adds, "The people in Detroit know a little something about this. They almost lost everything. But we all pulled together. Now Motor City is fighting again." With the music punctuating his remarks, Eastwood goes on: "I've seen a lot of tough eras, a lot of downturns in my life. Times when we didn't understand each other. It seems that we've lost our heart at times. The fog of division, discord and blame, made it hard to see what lies ahead." As scenes of protesters give way to black and white photos of kids and firefighters, Eastwood builds, "But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right and acted as one. Because that's what we do. We find a way through tough times. If we can't find a way then we'll make one. All that matters now is what's ahead. How do we come from behind? How do we come together?

At this point, viewers see Eastwood in the light. "And how do we win? Detroit is showing us it can be done,. And what's true about them is true about all of us. This country can't be knocked out with one punch." To conclude, a close-up of Eastwood fills the screen. "We get right back up again and when we do the world is going to hear the roar of our engines. Yeah, its halftime America and our second half is about to begin."

All that was missing was him turning to Mitt Romney and challenging him to "make my day."

Somewhere, Lee Atwater is looking down on his home state in disbelief. This can't be what the father of the modern political attack had in mind: a Republican using the modern version of his diabolical invention against another Republican in South Carolina.

King of Bain: When Mitt Romney Came to Town, the newly-released destroy-the-front-runner vehicle from the super PAC run by rival Newt Gingrich's political operatives, blames Mitt Romney for everything from endlessly high unemployment, to the demise of American manufacturing to the destruction of the modern marriage. Visually, it's a montage of smoke-filled rooms, suitcases filled with cash and glinting corporate headquarters juxtaposed with images of cracked sidewalks in broken small towns and the haggard faces of former factory workers.

Over the top? Sure. A gross violation of Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment to Republicans to speak no ill of fellow Republicans? Hands down it is. Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul condemned the film as full of "blatant falsehoods and fabrications."

But the most important point about Gingrich's movie is that it works. And if it is unleashed full force on South Carolina voters as promised, it has the potential to do serious damage to Romney's lead in the state's Jan. 21 primary. That's how powerful it is.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his allies are making an all-out push to win the Iowa caucuses -- or at least to knock down their toughest opponent -- according to advertising data from key local markets around the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision has stirred favorable rumblings about a campaign finance proposal once favored only by GOP lawmakers: Unlimited donations and full transparency.

Even some Democrats are starting to wonder if such a move is better than the current system, despite credible fears that lifting the donation limits would favor corporate leaders and their political cousins in the GOP.

My colleague, Reid Wilson, succinctly summed up this odd moment.

But allow me one more thought. After the ad had settled in my mind for a couple of days and I got beyond all the weird touches--Cain's oddly revealing smile, the smoke itself--what struck me was the depiction of Cain's right-hand man as another smoker forced to puff outside. After all, Mark Block wasn't filmed taking a drag in some office or in his home but instead on a windswept sidewalk which is probably where most nicotine delivery takes places these days.

It couldn't help by remind me a bit of Michael Douglas in "Falling Down," a not-great-not-bad film about a laid-off aerospace worker who goes on a killing spree. It was a 90s proxy for downsizing, and the beleaguered white male. Newsweek got a cover out of it at the time.

If you feel like you've been victimized and life's been unfair than the image of a guy forced to smoke outside isn't the worst one to use when you're campaigning in this kind of economy. Of course, the question of why Cain, a cancer survivor, would put tobacco front-and-center in his ad is another question. But nothing about the ad glamorizes tobacco, only that defiant puff to the camera that reminds me of another angry white male, Network's Howard Beale.

The David Brock-led research outfit American Bridge 21st Century is focusing their efforts against Rick Perry in the 2012 GOP presidential field, a further signal that Democrats are taking the Texas governor seriously in his bid to defeat President Obama.