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Subscribe to RSSCOEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Rick Santorum on Tuesday dismissed the significance of new polls showing him surging to the top of the Republican presidential field, maintaining that he did not care about polls when he sat at the bottom of them and does not care about them now that he's in the lead.
"Two months ago I said don't pay attention to the polls, but now that we're doing well, I'm not going to say, 'Hey, everybody pay attention to the polls,'" Santorum told reporters after addressing a crowd of more than 500 supporters. "Polls come and polls go, we just have to go out and earn it one state at a time and that's what we're doing, we're going one state at a time."
Three national polls have Santorum leading previous frontrunner Mitt Romney, a bump attributable to his wins in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri one week ago. The campaign has raised nearly $4 million since victories in the three races.
Idaho becomes the first Super Tuesday state the former Pennsylvania senator is campaigning in. This week he plans to cover plenty of ground: He began Monday in Washington and will move west to Ohio by the weekend.
His time, which previously almost solely was spent campaigning, now is split between meeting voters publicly and meeting donors privately.
"Don't pay much attention to the polls. It's helped in one way: It’s helped us in fundraising, which is important as we have to now go compete in the bigger states," Santorum said.
He's putting some of the money to work in Romney's home state of Michigan, where two television ads began running Tuesday. Both are positive, touting his conservative credentials. But choosing the Wolverine State to buy ad time is a sign that the campaign feels confident of a strong showing in a primary that Romney won in 2008.
Though mentioning the former Massachusetts governor only a handful of times here, Santorum took some less than subtle jabs at his chief rival. The GOP presidential hopeful said Barack Obama’s health care law is "the issue to center the election around" and there is one candidate -- whom Santorum declined to name -- that will not be able to take the president to task on the topic.
"Don't go to Massachusetts to get any health care because you're going to have to wait a long time," he joked.
But speaking to media after the event, Santorum did not mince his words when speaking about Romney. Now surging, he'll find himself running against a better funded campaign that will now go after him. Asked to respond to how he'll deal with the onslaught, Santorum said, "I guess it’s sort of funny that you know the press’ natural reaction is that any time someone challenges Governor Romney, that the governor’s going to go out there and savage that person instead of going out and talking about his record."
"For Governor Romney, who was doing the same thing at the same time, to now be critical of me is hypocritical. It’s unfortunate that he’s gotten into that game. Where I disagree with Governor Romney I lay out my disagreements, but I don’t lay out hypocritical politics for accusing, going out and lambasting someone for something that I did. That’s the kind of politics I think that people have soured of very, very quickly."
While he shied away from directly attacking Romney for most of his speech, the same was not true for Obama. Making the 2010 health care bill the president signed into law the linchpin of his argument, Santorum argued that a win by Democrats in this year's election will forever change America.
"Go in neighborhoods in America today ... what do you find? Where the family has broken down, there is no marriage. When the church has abandoned ship, where community and civic organizations don't exist because there is no civil society, what do you find? You find people holed up in their homes afraid to go outside at night, who look for the government to help sustain them because they have nowhere else to look," he said.
"That is the future of Barack Obama's America."
At one point Santorum called out the president for not releasing his academic grades, but Santorum has yet to release his tax returns after promising to for the past two weeks. When asked about it, Santorum said he thought that his tax returns had been released earlier in the day, but said that they should be made available soon.
From here, Santorum travels to Boise, Idaho, for an evening rally.
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It's a shame he doesn't follow the same rules about treating the President with the same respect. Ricky is just following the ole Reagan rule, "Thou shalt not bad mouth your fellow Republican."
There's nothing wrong with lying about your Democratic opponents I guess.
Love those Granny Smiths.
We already see stupid. So we don't need to alter a thing, just let the other stupid followers of
Saintorum know they are following a stupid man. That's the message that needs to be passed around.
Santorum has an interesting message that men should really pay attention to. I don't know if this has really occurred to folks on the right yet, but lets talk about contraception, and family planning. I've been married, and I know how this works. You tell a woman, "no pill," and she doesn't want kids, all she has to say is, "no sex." I've noticed that women are like camels when it comes to sex; they can live without it for, well, ever. So before you go pushing the no contraception button, you might want to think about how much fun it was the last time you spent a week on the couch, and how that could be the rest of your life.
I wonder if Willard's Super PAC will target little Ricky's fascination with man/dog sex?
Anyone know if Rick is offering 'V' neck sweater vests for the dog lovers out there on his web-site?
Go Ricky - you're so fine you blow my mind - hey Ricky!
little ricky would love to introduce you to santorum, just open up and say ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
happy valentines day betty
Looks like we are in for a hound, dog and bitch fest. I wonder which one dislikes dogs more.
Feisty you are full of sh*t
Well now, little Donny I sure hope you feel better - little man...
PS: Hit me with you best shot will ya? My favorite past time is chewing up little trolls like U amd spitting them back out again...
Accusing the GOP of bestiality, Fesity? Stay classy.
I dont trust this Washington insider and he (Rick) calls himself a true conservative ha! I dont thinks so. Mr. Pork (RICK) as I call him is so full of himself.
I agree with the thought that Santorum is the same Santorum today as he was years ago. No one can say that about Romney. And I mean no one.
Romney's Michigan ad is disgraceful re: auto industry. President Obama went out on a limb when it came to saving the auto workers their livelihood. He did the same thing on Iraq. He was on the side of the minority but he was right, both times.
As Congressman Gary Peters just said - Mitt Romney was never there for the auto workers, but the president was. I hope Santorum beats Romney for the nomination. He is earning it. Romney is just trying to buy it.
Big difference.
Romney is one of those who believe that if you have a ton of money, then you have all the answers and that only their view points should matter. Everybody else is naive. That there is NO WAY a black democratic "community organizer" could possibly be wiser than he, a filthy rich white Republican.
Well Mitt, he is. And he's beating you in your own back yard. One of your own back yards, that is. I know. This wasn't in the cards. It just wasn't supposed to happen this way.
It would be something if Santorum could knock Romney off of his self-annoited pedestal.
I disagree that Hussein was there for the auto workers. He was there for the unions. Not all auto workers are union. Many were screwed big time, as Hussein illegally handed over GM & CHrysler to the unions.
You know that President Bush authorized the auto bail out and President Obama implemented it. It was wrong for both Presidents to do so. They re-wrote the bankruptcy laws for a special interest group - the unions.
Romney's point is that had GM been allowed to restructure without sidestepping the rule of law, jobs would have been saved, debt would have been restructured --- pretty much the same how things turned out under the bail out. Except it wouldn't have cost the U.S. tax payers billions.
I'd say President Obama is trying to buy his re-election: $40 a week at a time, 78 weeks of poverty level unemployment pay, and promising to redistribute money from the wealthy to the middle class. Bribes for votes.
Pat:
The article below explains the auto bailouts and how Romney is wrong in some instances. Great read.
http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/mitt-romney-gets-wrong-detroit-automakers-bailouts-154006392.html
Pat, pretty good post. Would be something if Santorum could win there. Just have to see if a week from now Santorum's poll numbers are dodging that Romney-negative-special drop.
One thing that's hurting Romney is that awareness is growing, presumably among Republicans in Michigan as well as elsewhere, that this is his modus operandi. That ought to blunt their effectiveness somewhat.
Excellent comment, Pat.
Santorum is the same as he would have been 300 years ago, if he had lived that long.
I don't like Santorum any better than I like Romney, for different reasons. Since Santorum would not have a prayer in the general election anyway, it's interesting to watch how the GOP nominee wannabees dance around their opponents and throw barbs at one another.
Polls are a conglomeration of opinions given by people to pollsters who ask for those opinions. When politicians say they "don't pay attention to polls", to me, they are saying they don't pay attention to what the people have to say.
Wouldn't it be better to acknowledge that opinions found in polls are fleeting, but they do represent what the people are feeling at the time.....and that should be somewhat important. Don't base policy on them, but give them some thought.
Candace,
i agree that polls do give one a snapshot of peoples opinions on that particular day, that is all.
Santorum sure did look at the MI polls, otherwise he would not be spending ad money there and not elsewhere.
Northstar,
I read your comments to see what you have to say on a particular day, and I consider the point you are making. While I may not agree, I certainly consider your thoughts. I'm just tired of politicians "dismissing" the voice of the people like they don't matter. Just a little thing that makes me crazy.
And you're right. I'm sure they do look at the polls and set strategy because of them, even though they say they don't matter.
"At one point Santorum called out the president for not releasing his academic grades"
Not, the grades thingy again, what's next......teleprompter, birth certificate?
Santorum, has real issues with blah people, women (everything)....
The thought of Rick Santorum sitting in the White House is about as REPULSIVE as him, his family, his supporters, and his ‘Taliban-like Fundamentalist Crackpot’ followers, all camping out, for four years, in my wife’s vagina!
Santorum has to be the scariest person to serve in the U.S. Senate since Joe McCarthey !!!!!!
How can ANYONE support this most troubled person, who has spent a life time, worrying about the reproduction system of every woman, or of the female of the Homo sapiens species, in the USA, to be considered sane enough to occupy the Oval Office?
How can one be assured that the narrowly focused dogma of Rick Santorum – the ‘private parts’ of woman in Christian fundamentalist hyper drive destined for government ‘intervention’ – The sexual proclivity of consenting adults – The usurping of the entire educational system of the USA to promote an agenda that is ‘Biblical in origin’, and underwritten with a zeal that is far more dangerous to civil liberty that the absurd ‘Patriot Act’ – How can one be assured that these, and then some, won’t be the sole mission of his perceived occupancy of the White House?
I’d take that baboon Leroy Newton Gingrich before I’d vote for this BAFOON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’d have to drag me screaming if this was the only choice!
I think what Rickey really wants is the ‘Spanish Inquisition/ The Sequel’ !
Someone please find me the ‘Flying Circus’……………………………………………
Mark, I hear what you're saying. . .actually, my father, a lifelong Republican (fiscal conservative) is so disgusted with this year's field of candidates that he called the whole primary process a "joke" and "broken". His words. I think he feels he truly has no choice this election.
You should take a deep breath and be patient--Santorum is just the latest candidate to "surge" due to the dissatisfaction of conservative voters with Romney. Who knows? Maybe Ron Paul will surge next and steal the nomination. (I say "steal" because I've heard of some pretty shady things going on with his delegates at the caucuses). None of these guys holds a candle to President Obama. Even the Republicans know it, so they are getting "severely" desparate!
wow koolaid?? We have had plenty of presidents who were against abortion and such but that was their belief but not how the governed. What you are missing is that your personal belief may not be something that should be foisted upon the country as a whole.(Hello Mr. President did you read this?) We last hired an unknown un-vetted person with little background and were not allowed to question his positions or background and where has that got us???
All our problems did not come from our current leader no they started about 20-25 years ago and has the fingerprints of both parties on it. That he did not do what was needed for our country to recover and become healthy again is the problem.he went down the road of piling it on and letting someone else later fix it. Unfortunately our economy could not take it anymore and here we are broken and battered trying just to stay afloat
We need a change and this is what we have. We cant afford 4 more of what we have now and those we wanted to take over have been eliminated by the insiders except 2 and I don't mean Romney he is the insiders choice. Right now I'd even take Hillary over our current leader and i'm not a Dem. Well that's my rant have fun tearing it apart.
Rick's message: that we are all obliged to follow the arbitrary dictates of his religion and forget about having liberty to do anything that his beliefs forbid, like use birth control.
What's the deal, right? I mean, he's "pro-life", meaning he's against abortion. Bnut he's also against the use of contraception or at least insurance coverage of it. Don't we want to prevent unwanted pregnancies (and thereby reduce the number of abortions)? Yet, we can cover Viagra?
I.just.don't.get.it. How do Republican women make sense of this kind of thinking?
Romney should save his money, better yet,send some of it to the clowns on here who think He will win the nomination. He is plummeting quicker than a snow cone in July. Just goes to show you money can't buy you love. And for the Barrack Bin Laden puppets that even think He will be re-elected , good luck with that one. He will go down as one of the worst presidents in American history with his Socialist and Muslim beliefs. His days are numbered. Finally a true man of faith and decent morals will run this country. All you non believers better start believing. The American people are tired of these jokers that have been running this country for the past few decades and will all stand behind the man that is not afraid to speak his mind and tell of His faith in God, this country was built on God and good morals and we have a president now Osama Obama who wants to change all that America stands for, the constitution and our amendments. So in closing may I say, God be with Rick Santorum on his quest to the whitehouse and God Bless America while I still have the right to do so. 4 more years of O bomb a and that right may be taken away.
Whoa...if this is your version of Christianity: lies, threats, sanctimony, intolerance, arrogance, and outright delusions...you can keep it.
I'm sure Santorum will be pleased to have you in his corner.
Have a nice day.
I don't get what grades in school have to do with anything...
And as for the poster above, just because you happen to believe in your religion doesn't mean that it is a springboard for the entire country to get in line behind. I'm glad your faith works for you, but I wish you and especially politicians would keep it to yourself and themselves and not think that something you/they 'believe' in, is something that will help all Americans in the future.
I googled Santorum....it said it all.
I went on line and watched SNL's Parody of Clint Eastwood's Chrysler's ad...it's hilarious. Check it out.
Can;t even vote for him in Virginia on Super Tuesday. Romney has the state bought unless his opponents coalesce.
kaybeetoys,
I think he says he's Cathloc and wouldn't use one at all ! not allowed by the church, don't ya know?