Daily Santorum: Gays & Megyn Kelly

Rick Santorum's win in the Ames straw poll -- no, wait, he didn't win it but it just seems that way -- continues to pay dividends with three of the most important things in a GOP race. It's helping the grassroots, fundraising and in appearances on Fox News.

Despite being a former employer, Fox hadn't given Santorum much face time over the summer, as Jim O'Toole noted in this story yesterday. But after his fourth place finish the all-important conservative network has bought into his little-engine-that-could storyline. On Friday, Megyn Kelly called him "an incredibly nice guy," then asked him to explain himself to her gay and lesbian friends.

Then he had a feature spot on primo real estate for Beltway types, Fox News Sunday. He pushed back on criticism of his 18-point Senate loss in 2006, saying it was a "miserable election year" for all Republicans, and said he had the strongest track record of any candidate in fighting entitlement programs. In Congress, "I went toe to toe with Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Ted Kennedy, the lions of the left," he said.

Ames cracked "open the door a couple of inches for Santorum," Tom Fitzgerald wrote yesterday in the Inky, getting him more volunteers in Iowa and South Carolina and fueling plans for fundraisers across Pennsylvania the next two weeks. Remember, despite that 2006 loss his home state still gives him more $$$ than any other.

Schedule: Wrapup of his Sunday New Hampshire swing here from WMUR.