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Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says the GOP has a problem, and they know it. "Areas where we should be winning, like in Ohio, and in Michigan, places where the economy is not strong, where the Obama administration policies have hurt there ... they're not voting for us," says Santorum, author of the new book "Blue Collar Conservatives: Recommitting to an America That Works." Establishment Republicans "realize we have a problem there. I don't think they have any clue how to fix it," says Santorum. "The tea party realizes, that's who they are, these are conservatives who don't think...

In 2008, Republicans argued that Barack Obama couldn't be an effective president because he had never run anything. Since his inauguration, they have never let go of this argument. In a typical exchange during the BP oil spill, Sean Hannity and GOP strategist Ed Gillespie agreed that the feeling America was on the wrong track could be traced "back to the fact that [Obama] doesn't have executive experience." Indeed, when Rick Santorum was praising Sarah Palin as a vice presidential pick in 2008 at a speech at Ave Maria (yes, the same speech where he talked about Satan), he cited...

The Santorum campaign appears to be taking a slightly new tack on Newt Gingrich’s continued presence in the race. Instead of calling on Mr. Gingrich to drop out of the race, they called for Mr. Gingrich’s supporters to come to their side. “It’s time for Gingrich supporters to get behind us if they truly want to have a conservative candidate; it’s up to Newt Gingrich to decide what his future is,” John Brabender, Mr. Santorum’s top strategist, told reporters after Mr. Santorum and a crowd of about 200 people had left the hotel ballroom here where Mr. Santorum had conceded...

(CBS News) BILOXI, Miss. - The four main candidates for the Republican nomination for president say they're committed to staying in the race right up to the convention this August in Tampa, Fla. There's just one problem: If they do, it might turn out that no one gets the number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright. Stumping in Birmingham, Alabama, Mitt Romney continued his Southern charm offensive, celebrating an endorsement from the country band Alabama. "Wouldn't you love to hear them sing 'Sweet Home Alabama'? Wouldn't that be wonderful?" he asked a crowd at one campaign stop. In...

Saying he'd look for a "strong and principled conservative" as a running mate should he win the Republican presidential nomination, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum tells Newsmax that he certainly would consider rival Newt Gingrich for that vital role. When asked if he would consider the former House Speaker as number two on his ticket, Santorum said Gingrich had been "tested" by the bruising GOP race and that makes him an attractive vice presidential candidate. Santorum tells Newsmax that his choice would be a core conservative who is “willing to stand up and fight for the things that I believe...

A new poll released on the eve of Rick Santorum’s first campaign visit to Alabama shows the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania leading in the state Republican Party presidential primary. The statewide poll conducted by Alabama State University’s Center for Leadership and Public Policy showed 22.7 percent of likely Republican voters supported Santorum, who is scheduled to make campaign appearances Thursday in Huntsville and Mobile. Former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney trailed Santorum with 18.7 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House from neighboring Georgia, with 13.8 percent. The telephone poll of 470 likely GOP voters showed...

Long-time conservative activist Richard Viguerie suggested today that Newt Gingrich suspend his campaign and endorse Rick Santorum in order to unite conservatives against Mitt Romney. "Looking at last night’s numbers, it has become increasing clear that the former Speaker can either be a kingmaker or a spoiler," Viguerie said in a statement today, "because, to unite conservatives, Gingrich would have to suspend his campaign and endorse Rick Santorum for the Republican nomination for President." Viguerie argued that Romney must lose the nomination in order to prevent "the debacle of four more years of an Obama presidency." Read more: http://newsok.com/richard-viguerie-suggests-newt-gingrich-drop-out/article/feed/356737#ixzz1oSe1bS1N

In Mississippi, Santorum Makes Case For Two-Man Race By NBC's Andrew Rafferty JACKSON, Miss. -- Rick Santorum called on Mississippi voters to deliver the knockout blow that would end Newt Gingrich's candidacy and make it a two-man race between Mitt Romney and the former Pennsylvania senator for the Republican nomination. "You have an opportunity here in Mississippi to narrow this race, narrow this race to a conservative versus the insider moderate. I ask you here tonight to stand with me," Santorum told a crowd of 300 at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum on Wednesday. "If we win Mississippi, this...

March 8 Republican Split Decision Romney had a good night but Santorum has cause to fight on. If Republican poohbahs were hoping that Super Tuesday's 10 contests would settle the Republican primary contest, they woke up Wednesday disappointed. While Mitt Romney had a good night and stretched his lead among delegates, Rick Santorum did well enough to more than justify staying in the race. The good news for Mr. Romney is that he won easily where he had to—in New England and Virginia—and went on to win narrowly the crucial showdown in Ohio. The pundits made much of the large...

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum won the Republican presidential primary in Oklahoma on Tuesday, Fox News projected shortly after polls closed. It was the first victory of the night for Santorum, a staunch conservative who has been trying to establish himself as the conservative alternative to the more moderate front-runner Mitt Romney. Ten states are voting in nominating contests on Super Tuesday

Alana Goodman, at the conservative site Hot Air, is quoted as saying the following about anti-pursuit of happiness candidate Rick Santorum: “Where’s the conservative outrage? If Santorum’s comments aren’t nanny state-ism in its purest form, then what is?… If you’re a conservative and you give Santorum a pass on this, you forego any future right to complain about liberals taking away your Happy Meals and trans fats.” Goodman is referring to Santorum’s recent and past comments that freedom as specified in the U.S. Constitution is not absolute, and that government policy must take a position on birth control, abortion, and...

LIMA, Ohio (AP) -- Rick Santorum sees an America in need of more than economic recovery, warning Saturday that the nation's inattention to conservative social values is "damning people." "Folks if we know what works, why don't we talk about what works? Why don't we encourage it in our schools? Why don't we encourage it in our culture?" the Republican presidential candidate asked hundreds of people gathered at the Allen County Lincoln Day dinner. "Why are we damning people? Why are we condemning them to a life just because we won't talk about - we'll talk about childhood obesity until...

Rick Santorum Looks To Georgia In Dalton Speech Visit comes on the heels of Newt Gingrich By James Harrison March 2nd 2012 DALTON, Ga. — Speaking in the same town visited by Newt Gingrich less than 48 hours earlier, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a group of 150 voters that the fight leading up to next week's Super Tuesday primaries had already become a two-person race. "You give me the opportunity here by helping me win the state of Georgia, and this race will change," Santorum told the crowd, which remained seated in Dalton's city council chamber for the...

Rick Santorum today attempted to take back comments in which he said Barack Obama is a “snob” because he wants to see as many Americans as possible go to college. Speaking on CNN, Santorum said when he called Obama a snob, he was speaking more in terms of Obama’s larger policy agenda. “I was giving a long riff about the president mandating things on people,” Santorum said Friday. “I was talking about the government and president mandating healthcare and, you know, what kind of loans we’re going to get.” Santorum’s comment came in response to President Obama saying that every...

Does the Tea Party now support politicians who favored bailouts and the ObamaCare individual mandate? Such a statement sounds like an oxymoronic joke, about as likely as a pacifist who backs war or an atheist for Jesus. But the answer, according to exit polls from New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida primaries, is an emphatic “yes.” According to each of these exit polls, the vast majority of self-identified Tea Party supporters have backed either former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (left) or former House Speaker Newt Gingrich over anti-bailout candidates such as Texas Congressman Ron Paul, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum,...

Leading in the national polls and within striking distance of scoring big victories in Michigan and Arizona next Tuesday, Rick Santorum is portraying himself as the little 'guy from a steel town' who will stop Barack Obama from accumulating regal powers. 'Back in 2008, the American public at a time of crisis went for a rock star that they believed could solve their problems, someone that they believed in to make a difference in their lives,' he said at the Maricopa County Lincoln Day lunch in Phoenix, Arizona. 'This election, Americans are going to go back to what we've done...

Martha McSally, the first female Air Force pilot to fly in combat who is seeking ex-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s seat in Arizona’s special election, blurted out in a TV interview Friday that she wanted to “go and kick him in the jimmy.” “You know, I agree with many of the things that Rick Santorum says, but when I heard this, I really just wanted to go and kick him in the jimmy,” McSally, a Republican, said on “Fox & Friends,” referring to Santorum’s recent controversial comments about women in the military.

Candidates often say things when polling in the single digits that come back to haunt them when they start leading the polls. Last October, Rick Santorum gave an interview with an Evangelical blog called Caffeinated Thoughts, in which he said contraception is “not okay,” and that this would be a public policy issue he would tackle as President. In particular, he said he would “get rid of any idea that you have to have abortion coverage or contraceptive coverage” as a government policy.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Republican candidate Rick Santorum has won support from American conservatives for his views on social issues but a habit of hyperbole may lead to stumbles in his White House bid. In Boise, Idaho, on Tuesday, Santorum compared contraception to deodorant and soap when making a point about why he believes birth control should not be covered by health insurers. "Let's mandate that every insurance policy covers toothpaste. Deodorant. That might be a good idea, right? Have everyone cover deodorant, right? Soap. I mean, where do you stop?" Santorum also fell back on a well-worn Republican criticism that...

....Asked about the legalization of online gambling, Santorum responds: "I’m someone who takes the opinion that gaming is not something that is beneficial, particularly having that access on the Internet. Just as we’ve seen from a lot of other things that are vices on the Internet, they end to grow exponentially as a result of that. It’s one thing to come to Las Vegas and do gaming and participate in the shows and that kind of thing as entertainment, it’s another thing to sit in your home and have access to that it. I think it would be dangerous to...