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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 will be a two-person race. And if it is a two-person race, we will nominate a conservative as president of the United States."
The remarks came hours after a Gingrich spokesman said Mississippi and Alabama are must wins for the former Speaker to continue as a viable candidate.
While Santorum and his advisers have not directly called for Gingrich to exit the race, a senior strategist on Tuesday told reporters that they would rally conservative and tea party voters to call on his rival to drop out. "Red, White, and Blue Fund," the pro-Santorum Super PAC on Wednesday sent out an e-mail urging Gingrich to exit the race.
After narrowly losing to Romney by narrow margins in both Ohio and Michigan, the Sanrtorum campaign placed a renewed emphasis on pushing the argument that Gingrich is taking conservative votes from them. The result, they argue, is an inevitable Romney nomination. Ron Paul also remains in the race and has a strong but small base that has not taken votes from Santorum.
Santorum has made the case that he is the more genuine and honest candidate, taking a shot at Romney for using a teleprompter during his Super Tuesday speech the previous night. "Unlike some candidates last night, I didn't have a teleprompter last night ... We don't need any more candidates for presidents, or presidents, who are out there delivering someone else's message that has been poll tested, has been marketed to sell you something," he said.
While scoring victories in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and North Dakota on Tuesday, Santorum held a rally in Steubenville, Ohio at the local high school. The campaign wanted the contrast of one candidate in a small, blue collar town in southeast Ohio going against Romney, who spoke at hotel in Boston.
Romney advisers today said it would take "an act of God" for their candidate to lose the nomination.
"I don’t know about you Governor Romney, but I think it was a blessing and an act of God for us to even be on this stage tonight and I thank God for that," Santorum responded.
"We are connecting, not because everyone agrees with what I’m saying, but people know what I’m saying is what I truly believe is right for this country."
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Good ole Rick, always looking for a little man-man action ;-)
Gays are something to ridicule????Why do you try to insult someone and use homosexuality as your punchline. You are offensive.
If you think jobalz is offensive then you haven't met Rick Santorum.
leroy2112
That was sarcasm Leroy, try to keep up.
I love the teleprompter line! What a crafty shot at Romney. It works on two levels, and both are simultaneously obvious.
The first goes after Romney's primary negative - the view he will say anything to win, whether or not he believes it, and has been doing that for so long, he probably doesn't even know what he believes anymore. Thus, we're not hearing Romney, we're hearing what he staff is telling him to say.
The second, of course, is a comparison to someone else who has taken a lot of criticism for teleprompter use. And that someone else happens to be a Democrat. Ah ha! See? See? Romney is like a Democrat in a lot of ways, and obviously can't run a campaign of contrast with the president when he's just like the president.
Paul,
Rick really did nail Romney with that comment. And it is true, a lot of the GOP base just do not feel the "love" for Mitt!
Romney will be the reluctant candidate for the GOP. The only other options on the table are a crazed religious extremist, an unrepentant crook, and a mummified old fart.
The Republican Party could have scraped up a better selection of candidates by going to Walmart.
"The two man race should be Romney and Gingrich, We don't need a loser like Santorum"
"Santorum is a nut and should step aside so Gingrich can go one on one with Romney"
Why is Romney's delegate math so inevitable? If Santorum wins in the southern states coming up and Gingrich gets out, why can't Gingrich then instruct the delegates he has won to support Santorum? This would close the delegate count between Romney and Santorum and leave this a truly 2 person race. If that happens I could see Romney losing in the end, conservatives simply don't trust him.
Jobalz, you have a point. Some times I think he was that one "special altar boy" growing up. You know, the one the priests and bishops gave that special wink to.
Santorum said to his camp "Remind me to add - fix crumbling infrastructures and unfair trade to my next speech, the Lady's are getting mad at me ???????????
Rick is pretty smart, avoiding a direct confrontation so instead of gaining an enemy he will gain a supporter.
A vote for Obama is a vote for higher gas prices, higher unemployment and poverty.
Why you want that ????
It seems to me that employment was tanking when Bush left office, after he created those tax breaks for the wealthy that were going to create jobs.
old fat guy
Cuz I love watching old fat guys twist in the breeze while trying to figure out what happened.
Yeah, Obama has a dial in the oval office that he can manually tune oil prices with. He just turns the magic dial and POOF, gas goes up or down...
The teabaggers among us share the fantasy that President Obama is somehow best friends with the Gasoline Fairy and if he asked really nice the fairy would wave its little wand and prices at the pump would instantly drop down to a buck a gallon or lower. Is that sad or what?
Please explain your logic.
D=Dumb, & B=Bagger - "Now that's pretty smart" ?
Poor old fat guy...just can't get your facts correct, can you. (Rush is a liar...sorry you haven't heard).
So, old fat guy....Can you bless me with your brilliant dissertation as to why I should vote for a man that was too stupid to get his name on the ballot in a state in which he has lived? Please tell me why I should trust the Presidency to someone who can't figure out the basics of a campaign.
When exactly did 'moderate' become a dirty word?
so if GOP's don't like moderates and moderates are 'not extreme', and a true conservative is the opposite of a moderate, wouldn't that make all 'true conservatives' then extremists? I thought we were at war with extremists?
Hey rrobeson, I through Conservative was "Terrorist" ????????
Shocked...The people of that state are the losers by having rules that deny them the choice the rest of America has.
To you all that do not get gas prices doubling under Obama I will tell you he will not be happy until we are as expensive as the rest of the world and he will still be opposed to drilling. Like it or not America runs on oil
"Hey fat, you can go fishing for Whale Oil"
I thought this was an adult conversation place but sounds like fifth grade recess
Hey guy, how would you like it if your TeaPug 1% buddies were fracking for natural gas in your back yard. Check your H2O ?
fact is we have a gas well and have gas wells all around us.
I live on the Barnet Shale. The sky is not falling
These people fighting for the Republican nomination scare the crap out of me. Get out and VOTE in November. Take nothing for granted.
It seems apparent to me that the duopoly endorse many of the same policies so can't it be somewhat believable that one side acting extra crazy makes it seem more acceptable to shift the whole thing to the right? Most of the GOP candidates are "scary", I agree, but do I support the New Years Day NDAA signing, a drone hit list, overthrowing Libya while ignoring Bahrain and Yemen, or constantly exporting wealth like $100 million to Honduras so they say they'll crack down on drug trafficking while neighboring Central American countries talk of decriminalization?
No.
Definitely. Gotta put down these lame dogs of the GOP. Get out the vote to send a message to this GOP's 1% that we're not having any of it.
They're against the 99%ers, women, gays, the Occupy movement, every minority, and real Christians. We will get cuts to education, our environment, our retirement, and our health care programs so they can legislate how we will live our lives as they send our kids off to pay for the next war they will start.
Send all the GOP candidates packing at every election this year. Vote them all outta here.
Santorum has his DNA all over ( "Weird" )
Santorum should not tell Gingrich what to do. I am supporting Paul and hope he stays and goes all the way.
Ron Paul is a fine politician and not "purchased" for his votes. He has been in Washington, DC for many years without foreign countries/lobbies/huge corporations purchasing his votes. Paul represents his constituents in Texas and takes his job seriously! Everyone else looks like they are purchased and will just sing the song requested for money.
Paul ain't going nowhere until he gets his son a prime convention spot and positioned in the GOP hierarchy. That's why he's collecting those delegate chips.
No, he's not going anywhere because he has the political and economic understanding of an above-average third-grader...
Im a Democrat but I must say that I actaully like Ron Paul. What I find really scarey those is the fact that he doesn't have a shot. The reason I find this scary is because is was not the American people that said he didn't have a shot, but the media. At the beginnng of this campaign the media decided that Paul was just a novelty and wasn't a legtimate canditate. As a result many people that would have voted for him have voted for others out of a fear of "wasting" their vote. We never read any articles or hear any news about Paul because the media has decided that he doesn't have a chance. This decision was made before even the Iowa caucus and its sad and scary that now the media essentially has the power to decide our nominees
Ron Paul's time on stage is running short. PS his Son is a weird guy, sad because the dad is a nice man.
Paul is a candidate for America of the 1880s, and not for today. He is clueless as to lead this country in today's world. Iran is not a sane nation. although it will never overtly attach the US or Europe first. Instead, the bomb will find its way into a Western Nation, or Israel in parts, which were "lost", then be reassembled and detonated by terrorists. Paul cannot figure that out for some reason.
Looks like you can take it to the bank. Mitt Romney will be our next, and best ever President for the next eight years.
Considering his lack of resources and organization, Rick is doing pretty darn good. Pretty good isn't going to garner the delegates he needs to cinch the nomination.
Romney will be the hero who will lead America out of the wilderness.
Parent @#5--- You are soooo delusional.
Joe
That would truly be the blind leading the blind.
"What chu talkin' bout Willard?; and what chu smokin' Joe..Dizzy's not gettin in.
The Gingrich camp is asking conservatives to pressure Santorum to drop out because hes just in the way, Newt goes on to say that hes a real man for a man on man debate.
If he wants a 2 man race then he should get the hell out. Newt stick in there man. Santorum should implode anytime now. He is in way over his head. You can see him sweat.
At least Newt can count to ten without using his fingers.
Well Santorum can count to three without using his fingers. ("Three, Three, Three") Hes Phony as a three dollar bill. Ricky - 1, 2, 3 and you're "OUT"
Slick Rick said " And if it is a two-person race, we will nominate a conservative as president of the United States." Hey I am excited. i don't understand how if Slick Rick wins Mississippi Ron Paul will be the nominee. The man said a conservative would nominated. yeah baby!!!!
handley, Santorum might be a conservative, but hes a bible thumping religious extremists wacko, rick can't go one on one with Romney's dog, hes dumb as a box of rocks. This guy is a loser and doesn't belong with the rest of the lot because hes not Presidential material. Ricky represents Clowns like Rush.
It's a tie for second Santorum should bow out and make it a 2 man race. Put his money where his mouth is.
Leroy, Santorum is should a Phony he makes my skin crawl.
Sorry, "Such a Phony" #8.1
Fools. If Santorum gets the nomination the Republican Party is doomed in November, mark my words. The only reason Romney has momentum is because he is a "moderate" who makes few outlandish Bible thumping statements (Mormon, I know). Romney will pick up independent votes while Santorum will lasso the Tea Party herd. When it comes down to the Presidential election Romney will swing not only conservatives, but more of the independent vote. Will Romney beat Obama? Its not impossible. Will Santorum? Not a chance.
Ratko, the People of Pennsylvania kicked Santorum out on his butt because they through he was a loser, what is that telling you !
Sanitarynapkin is right, it is a two-man race: OBAMA VS ROMNEY
You're assuming Romney is human. He might be, but he looks awful robotic at times.
Ratko, no GOPer will win the independent votes this election cycle. Your war on women killed most if not all of the independent votes. Those votes will go to Obama.
What do you mean my war on women?! I'm not a Republican you fool. Only a very small percentage of Independents base their votes around that issue. You're a woman so your brain is only a third the size of a mans. It's science.
Ratko
I would surmise you have answered your own question.
Ratko, good job making her point about the war on women...show me that science!
hmmm..average brain size difference is about 10%, roughly correlated to average body size difference between men and women.
Now as to the claim that "only a very small percentage of independents" care about the GOP attitude towards "women's issues", that's an interesting claim. I'd like to see the facts behind that.
Ratko: If I accept your premise that my brain is smaller than yours based upon science (I am waiting for your to cite your source materials), then you must accept my science that says very few human beings ever tap into more than 10% of their brain capacity.....So, I figure that based upon the ignorance of your post regarding women, and the fact that women can multi-task, it must mean that we use a much greater percentage of our brains than the usual 10%, so even if smaller, we still are smarter.
Ratco
You are 1/3 right. Female brains are body proportional and average about 10% lighter. However, 50% of male brains are dedicated to figuring out how to mate with females, and are therefore not available for rational thinking.
It was sarcasm Texan (dumb ass capitol of the world)
Ratco
Mine was a joke.
Im not american but I like to follow politics of western countries. Why is it the candidates in every western country try to appear moderate but in america moderates are considered bad or not to be desired. Ive never seen the word moderate used with distain except here. Does the word have a different meaning in america does it not mean centrist or non radical and wouldn't a moderate candidate have the best chance to get the most votes from all sides. Do democrats and republicans both not like it or just one party some clarification would be much appreciated.
Its complicated. For the last thirty years the United States has transitioned into what is known as a "supply-side", or a more free market economy (more free trade agreements, less taxes on the wealthy, declining organized labor, deregulation in the financial industry, service based economy etc). So moderates on the right tend to get much more criticism from their own party because they want to slow down or all together halt the further development of extreme right wing ideas. Centrist Democrats tend to be respected in their party (Clinton, Lieberman (technically Independent I think).
I prefer the clinical term "Voodoo Economics."
Ryan
Good question. There has always been a 15 - 20% undercurrent of the panoply of traditional "right wing conservative" political orientation dating from the the late 19th century KKK, thru the John Bircher's and McCarthites of the 50's - 60's and the neo-coms in the 21st century.
Lobbyist Grover Norquist cleverly augmented this base by picking off individual GOP politicians requiring them to sign "no tax increase" pledges for financial support or face well funded opposition in their re-election campaigns.
Basically, he elevated the Mafia Insurance racket to national politics and now has the GOP politicians committing political suicide by stepping out of line.
Some think he is funded by folks (Corps) that don't like to pay taxes.
Thanks for the replies, very interesting indeed.
Yes Rick, homophobia, bigotry and relegating women's rights back to the 18th century is just what's "right for this country".
Regardless of that buffoonery, just supposing those things were true how many jobs would they create, how would it balance the budget and how many wars would they end??
interesting choice of words by rick..he didn't claim that people supported him because they thought his ideas were good for the country, they support him because they know he BELIEVES they are good for the country.
Based on that "logic", we should all vote for the craziest people who are the most committed to their own beliefs, no matter how inane they are....I don't think that's a good way to go for this country.
"Based on that "logic", we should all vote for the craziest people who are the most committed to their own beliefs"
We hear people say -- I'm going to vote for (fill in the blank) because he stands up for what he believes in. Well -- Hitler stood up for what he believed in. It's not how you stand up for what you believe that's important, it's what you believe that's important and we know Rick Santorum believes in a theocracy.
It wouldn't balance the budget, heck even Rommney's plan would create more of a deficit by taking too much money out of the revenue side. The Busch tax cuts did more to increase the defficit than anything else. The republicans have no clue what so ever on any issue.
"The republicans have no clue what so ever on any issue."
Oh -- they have a clue -- they have one of 3 answers for every problem no matter what the problem is. Take your pick --- you either give it a tax cut, deregulate it or bomb it.
None of this matters -- Gingrich, Romney, Santorum --- who stays in, who drops out -- it doesn't matter. President Obama is going to win in November. And if the Republican party doesn't come up with now ideas, new strategies and doesn't stop chasing everybody other than old, white haired white guys out of their party a Democrat will win in 2016 also.
Women voting for a Republican candidate?
Can't understand it as they are going to get a smack-down from these guys.
And did you see the latest exit polls that show near 100% only white people voting in these GOP primaries?
At least the minority voters have figured this GOP field out. Not voting is a big NO vote for all of them.
How do you figure that women are going to get smacked down???? Listening to you guys reminds me of lemmings jumping off the cliff, just because it is there. I fail to see the connection between any of the candidates and my being "smacked down" as you put it...(Would you like to define that for me?)
Where would we start? Contraception? Maybe?
We live in the US of America, this is what democracy look like and if this candidate does not like it than he should drop out of the race!
A vote for Republicans will starve the poor and break the s.s and medicare for working America. Vote Obama
Please, please, please......read the entire of the healthcare bill, because the benefits that you think Mr. Obama has secured for you will start ceasing to exist in 2013/2014 as this thing gets implemented and off the ground, but with the ever human "end of life counseling services" provided, you don't have to worry about Medicare, because you ain't gonna be here to receive it.
Romnuts has your back tho, dont he Sue? With that evil old Romney care, oops, i meant to say Oromney care!!!
Actually, the good news is that Romney won't really want to do many of the things he has promised. He won't fight for them. He is saying anything he needs to say in order to get elected. If we judge by Massachusetts, he isn't all that radical.
That is the problem, too. He is totally plastic.
And the two-man race is Romney and anyone-but Romney:
Among those that have participated in the Republican nomination process approximately 2/3 of them have expressed a preference for a candidate other than Romney and the measure of antipathy toward Romney is reflected by the fact that there has been a constant shift between selections of these other opponents which reflects an-anyone-but-Romney intent.
Most of these anti-Romney voters of the GOP are not buying what he tells them and this looms very large when it comes to a general election between Romney and Obama. For a shot at victory, Romney will need to reflect stances that are more in tune with middle of the road voters and this is not going to go over well with those skeptical in the first place.
In the past, members of the right had confidence in their nominee and what he really stood for. Thus, they understood that with a wink to them the nominee would be saying some things couched in more moderate terms. This is not going to be the case with people who have not believed Romney in the first place and will conclude that his shift is where he has been all along.
They will not find funny the joke about the liberal, moderate and conservative walking into the bar and the bartender looking up and saying, "Hi Mitt."
Who is Rick Santorum? Sanctus Santorum...a misogynist...someone with no particular world standing who was rejected by voters in his former state. He willingly spent taxpayers money on earmarks while in office and he now claims to be a conservative! Does not compute.
Well said.
"Ricky boy lied about not being Prolific of earmarks"
When are any of these Republican candidates going to actually discuss how they are going to effect the chages and how the changes are going to affect all of the people not just certain people whom they are seeking office to serve. Taking away social security and gambaling it on the stock market is not acceptable; starting another war with Iran is not acceptable; not looking for and finding alternative sources of energy is not acceptable; not requiring the million and billionaires to pay their fair share is not acceptable; not watching over the banksters and wall street gangs is not acceptable; not stopping the oil industry from scouraging the land cheating consumers is not acceptable; No one wants to hear Rick, Mitt, Ron and Newt talk about their religious views and go on and on about themselves. They've already shown us who they are! And it's Not a good look either...
The Christian Taliban leader will not win.
Obama Republicans will help him win in Nov.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
This guy is so self important. How can he stand there and tell people to vote out Newtie? What an egotistical ass! This is looking good tho. As long as he stays in, the rest have to keep spending all their Pac money! Paul was dead from the word go. Newtie should have given up a long time ago. Ricky will not win, but so what? As long as he is here, there is a small chance, at least that is what Newtie and Ronnie are thinking!!! OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
Dream on Rick, this will remain a 4 man race up through the GOP convention as there is simply too much money available just for the asking, thanks to Bush II and the Robert's Court. Delegates equals power, and that is what is now driving the Four Horsemen of the "GO-Pocalypse" together with their failed policies (a continuation of Bush & Co, which will bring war, death, disease, and famine as they ratchet up on Iran, ignore Global Warming as a Liberal plot, impose more tax cuts for nonexistent job creators, make massive cuts to Federal Spending before getting the nation back to work. No plans, no solutions, just more failed trickle up theory along with more deregulaiton to allow the bad guys the freedom to do it all over again. the Rich will continue to get richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class will shrink as the Right Wing attempts to create a new oligarchy, and the worlds largest Banana Republic.