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CORALVILLE, Iowa -- The day after a national poll showed signs of a surge in Iowa for Rick Santorum, the presidential hopeful took to the campaign trail to voice a familiar message -- one that's now receiving an unfamiliar amount of attention.
The nearly 70 Iowans who came to hear the former Pennsylvania senator at the Coralville City Hall were nearly matched in attendance by members of the media. In the wake of a CNN/TIME poll that shows Santorum polling third in the state, the candidate who most frequently complains about his lack of media coverage has found himself swarmed by reporters just five days before the caucus.
"We used to hear all the time, 'Well you know, we like what you say, but you're not doing well in the polls.' And I kept saying, 'Don't pay attention to the polls...don't pay attention to what you see on TV, pay attention to what you feel and what you know in your heart and in your head," Santorum told reporters after the event. "And that's what Iowans are doing right now, and I think they're coming our way."
Campaigning throughout the Hawkeye State this week, Santorum has leaned on his conservative track record and time spent in the state to ask voters not to settle on a candidate whose has not consistently shared their values. He's used strong rhetoric against Ron Paul, saying the Texas congressman's foreign policy is "disconnected from reality."
Dinging the health care bill Mitt Romney signed into law as governor of Massachusetts, Santorum said, "I've been a private sector health care guy since day one."
Operating primarily at the lower tear of the polls, Santorum has been able to largely avoid the attacks other top-tier candidates have waged on each other. But -- in a race with a heavy emphasis on being a Washington outsider -- the 12 years Santorum spent in the U.S. Senate will likely give his detractors plenty of ammo. By mid-morning, the start of those attacks commenced with Texas Gov. Rick Perry calling him a "prolific earmarker" who "loaded up on PA pork."
Santorum explained his time in Washington as a member of Congress has given him needed experience that will complement his desire to overhaul some functions of the federal government, a delicate balance to strike in a political environment in which voters are deeply skeptical of Congress.
"I've got a recorder of an insider in the sense of being able to get things done, but an outsider in being able to do what I've done, which is reform Congress," he said.
He has used his parliamentary knowledge to blast rivals over their plans to repeal the President Obama signed health care law of 2010.
Referring to Romney's plan to give each state the opportunity to opt out of the law, the 12-year senator said, "Experience does help. And the experience of waivers is, some states will and some states won't."
Shortly thereafter, he critiqued another popular GOP plan to dissemble the legislation: "You can't do it by executive order like some others have said in this campaign. Again, experience helps."
But as Santorum enjoys the bump, signs of his lack of organization continue to show. His campaign cancelled his next event just hours before it was scheduled to happen because the family-owned store he was set to tour ended up being closed.
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So Ricky is at it again eh? Didn't Pennsylvania voters issue the final word on this germ a couple years ago? They bounced this ideologue out of office. America will do the same again if he gets to be a candidate.
Ricky was indeed bounced out of PA. He has done nothing of note since. He now is claiming that he reformed Congress. I would not brag about that even if it were true. The "reformed" congress has the worst approval rating of all time and is doing all it can to take everything it can away from the American people. Then the savings go the the wealthy. Is this the "reform" you speak of Rick?
He helped reform Congress by being tossed out is what he is saying?
Well that "newfound attention" should be used to review why Santorum was bounced -- the Terri Schiavo intervention, using 30k of county money for home schooling, etc. -- Yes, let's give this some attention.
So he get a few from the grinch and it goes to his head.... ;-0)
What he is trying to very delicately say is that I was an insider, but they threw me out, now I am an outsider trying to get back inside.
Kind of funny behavior for a small Gubmint guy isn't it Forrest?
"Keep a knockin but you can't come in, keep a knockin but you can't come in, come back tomorrow night and try it again" - Little Richard Santorium
"Loveeee is a many splendored thinnngggg...."
Except when you fan base rejects you by 2-1 in your last election.
Santorum is the gift that keeps on giving with these gems:
"I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts."
"Isn't that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?"
"My feeling is, well, if it's my money, I have a right to judge."
"The idea is that the state doesn't have rights to limit individuals' wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because there are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire."
"So the gay community said, 'He's comparing gay sex to incest and polygamy, how dare he do this,' and they have gone out on a, I would argue, jihad against Rick Santorum since then."
Little Rickie has no clue.
It seems this fool is into doubletalk. He may rise to the top of the bowl but will be flushed out like the rest of them. Bye bye Ricky.
Few care what you think Ricky baby, and even fewer would vote for you and your ideas of how the rest of us should live our lives.....maybe in the narrow world of your ideology it is your pipe dream....keep smoking.
Once again, all we hear from a Republican candidate is "I'm so great", I'm a real conservative," " I have the right experience and no one else does." I, I, I.
When President Obama campaigns, he talks about the voters' lives, how great Americans are, how it doesn't matter which Party you belong to, we all all in this together. You NEVER hear the Republicans talking about what the nation needs, only how their own campaign is going, or who is being mean to THEM. Republicans only care about those who look like them, or sound like them, or who belong to the "right" religion, they don't care about how we can protect the environment, improve our schools, take care of the sick and elderly, or generate new industries. President Obama talks about practical actions, like the Affordable Healthcare Act, or the payroll tax cut for the middleclass, he doesn't try to win votes by claiming one group is more American than another group, and insinuating only he can represent that group
None of this matters because none of these teapublicans will ever be elected president. This is the biggest collection of fruit cakes, lunatics, religious fanatics, con-artist (Newt) hypocrites,(Newt again) crazies and all around morons any major party has ever offered as presidential candidates.
Why do I seem to spell his name, Sanitorium?
"Ear Mark Rick" as he was known while in DC....
13 Characteristics of Christian/Republican Authoritarian Personality Disorder
1) A compulsion to categorize, label, measure, and control other human beings.
2) An obsession with class, accompanied by the delusion that he/she is in a class above others.
3) A grandiose sense of self-importance, i.e. feelings of omnipotence and omniscience. Believes he/she knows the psychological and spiritual functionings of others. A persistent belief that he or she is "special" in the sense that he or she is "a healer", "has all the answers", has more knowledge about the mind than others, etc.
4) A fascination with writing and embellishing disparaging fictions about others.
5) A delusion that all people with whom he/she comes into contact are "sick", accompanied by a need to talk about that "sickness" in a compulsive manner.
6) Fetishism: a personal sense of power and control because it raises his/her imagined social plane and advertises the delusionary class difference between him/her and others.
7) Fear of human emotions, accompanied by the strong desire to subdue the emotions of others through the administration of drugs, restraints, electroshock, incarceration, etc.
8) Shows arrogant, haughty, and/or sadistic behaviors or attitudes.
9) Requires excessive admiration and seeks constant proof of being needed by others, usually demonstrated by acquiring larger caseloads.
10) Unconsciously projects his/her own unresolved psychological issues onto others within his/her care.
11) Engages in fictitious gestures of caring and concern (i.e. provoking a false sense of trust), while lacking empathy: is unable to recognize the true needs of others.
12) Commits frequent boundary violations, while at the same time displaying an obsession with the perceived boundary irreverence' of others. Sets arbitrary, pre-mature, bizarre, and/or compulsive limits, as an excuse to humiliate, berate, control, and de-humanize others.
13) Exhibits a fascination with making money off the psychological pain of others.
Ricky the liar!! "jihadist attack us because we're free and a prosperous people" Why do you lie to the people Ricky? There are several CIA agents in videos (YouTube) that would disagree. Ricky do some research...you liar!!!!
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions, named Senator Rick Santorum as one of the most corrupt members of Congress in their 2006 report. This second annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress entitled Beyond DeLay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and five to watch) was an encyclopedic report on corruption in the 109th Congress which documented the egregious, unethical and possibly illegal activities of the most tainted members of Congress. CREW compiled the members’ transgressions and analyzed them in light of federal laws and congressional rules.