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Subscribe to RSSRepublican voters in Illinois are casting their ballots Tuesday in the state's presidential primary. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
EAST PEORIA, IL -- Rick Santorum began the Monday before the Illinois primary addressing Mitt Romney's claims that he is "an economic lightweight." By the day's end, it was the former Pennsylvania senator's own words that had him on the defensive.
Making four stops in the Land of Lincoln, Santorum suggested at a rally in Moline that the nation's unemployment rate "doesn't matter to me." The point, he later explained, was that his campaign is based on more fundamental issues than the current jobless numbers and that Republicans do not believe it is the government's role to create employment, only to create an atmosphere for job growth.
But it took little time for his chief rival for the GOP nomination to pounce on the comments. Stumping in Peoria less than two hours later, Romney used Santorum's line to further his case that he the only candidate capable of handling the economy.
"One of the people who is running also for the Republican nomination today said that he doesn’t care about the unemployment rate, that does bother me. I do care about the unemployment rate," said Romney.
Santorum's remarks came on the heels of a different eyebrow-raising incident in a Louisiana prayer service on Sunday night. As Santorum sat off to the side in Baton Rouge church, pastor Dennis Terry, who introduced the Republican hopeful, delivered some fiery rhetoric about religious tolerance. "I don’t care what the liberals say, I don’t care what the naysayers say, this nation was founded as a Christian nation," Terry said, adding, "There’s only one God. There’s only one God. And his name is Jesus."
When pressed by reporters on Monday about the comments, Santorum said he did not hold the pastor's views. "I believe in freedom of religion and all religions are welcome and should be. I think I've made that pretty clear throughout my campaign."
The distractions came less than 24 hours before Illinois voters go to the polls to decide how their 54 delegates will be allocated. The state is largely expected to favor Romney, but a strong showing from Santorum could further cement his place as the only candidate able to mount a challenge to the former Massachusetts governor's front-runner status.
With more than 15 media appearances on Monday in addition to the four campaign rallies, the Santorum campaign was hoping to leave Illinois on high note. As Romney delivered an economic address at the University of Chicago, Santorum touted his blue collar candidacy in Dixon, the hometown of GOP hero Ronald Reagan.
"We need someone who can talk and strike blows for big things like Reagan did for freedom, for America," he said while standing in front of bronze statue of Reagan on a horse. "Let’s just be brutally honest about it. There’s one candidate in this race who could never make this race about freedom because he simply abandoned freedom when he was governor of Massachusetts and he abandoned it when he promoted Obamacare in 2009.”
Throughout the day he called out Romney over his ties to Wall Street and a job creation record that, Santorum said, was one of the worst in the country while Romney led the Bay State.
But during his final rally outside a pizza shop in East Peoria, Santorum seemed to acknowledge the toll his off-the-cuff style has taken on him. "When you got out there and you don’t talk from a teleprompter, and you’re not, you know, reading notes that someone else gave you, occasionally you say something things, you wish you had a, you know, a do-over," he said.
"But you know what, I think it’s important that you get a sense of how real the candidate is, mistakes and all.”
NBC's Jamie Novogrod contributed to this report.
Follow NBC's Andrew Rafferty on Twitter
Leave a Comment:
GAWD!!! He sounds like my mother. Please all of you....if you like preachers then go to a church-stay there keep you out of our lives...but do NOT preach from the campaign trail or especially the OVAL OFFICE. NO PREACHERS IN OFFICE! EVER!
mallory,
thats why they build churches and place preachers in them, so those that what to be preched to have a place to go... i agree keep the pulpit out of the white house!
Obama certainly doesn't care about unemployment. No matter how fudged the numbers are unemployment is still 17% among blacks and really much higher among the youth of America. The Democrats do not care about the poor and the middle class. With the help of the media thay use the poor and the working class and in the end they are all about retaining power. They are busy bodies who are addicted to interfering in every citizen's life as much as possible. Hey look at me . Look how smart and powerful i am. Look how I have no financial sense at all. Look at the drool dribbling out of Harry Reid's mouth.
history,
you should read it....history that is. everything you just wrote was drivel and you wasted 2 seconds of my time....
History, you delude yourself if you think the Repubs care either. So Democrats are busybodies addicted to interfering in people's lives...and not the Repubs with their vaginal probes, hatred of gays, and being addicted to "putting women back where they belong".
History - there are more layers to that onion. And - people need to take responsibility for themselves, not put their hands out looking for $$. It's called education, training and the backbone to stick with it, not cave in. I was unemployed for 2 1/2 years, college educated, great resume. I hung in there and am now gainfully employed. In the meantime, I worked at a gas station, did consulting work, etc and at no time did I ever think of EBT, government health care, etc - never crossed my mind.
Obama's energy policy...... solyndra.
Really, that's all? Gee, and I thought we were in Iraq for the oil...Good thing we got out, I guess...
Santorum (aside from being downright scary) constantly reminds me of one of those people who like to say, "I'm sorry you took it that way."
What? The way you MEANT it?
The healing of america begins in november when we re-elect.
Obama?Biden 2012
Both of these idiots could give a @!$%# about the unemployed or the poor. Remember that from Romney "I'm not concerned about the poor". Wow, when will people learn that none of these people give a crap about any of their troubles and only want to create a "legacy" for themselves.
he said he didnt care about the very poor, there is a differnce
nation's unemployment rate "doesn't matter to me." Rick you said it and truthfully we all believe you, This will be on every single campaign add of every opponnet you ever face in politics from now on, face it your political career is over, this is far worst than howard deans going off and yelling which ended his career
mmac, how much are they paying you to be stupid or is it really that natural. I live in Alabama and these folks are fruitcakes too. Besides conservative radio and tv, they really don't have any original thoughts. Wow, that's all I can say is WOW. But they can ROLL TIDE and buy big guns. What badasses they are.
Go Obama.
Santorum's mouth is his worst enemy.
The President has very little/nothing to do with gas prices--no matter who is in the White house. The price of oil/gas is due to speculation and what is going on in the Middle East and OPEC. It is based on supply and demand. You think gas prices are high now? Wait until the war mongering repubs get into it with Iran with another unfunded war if we are blessed with either Mittens or Santorum for President. Think our deficit is high now? Try another unfunded war. At least I think that if you vote for Santorum, you pretty much know what you are voting for---instead of campaigning on what this country need to focus on: jobs, the economy, education, new technology to get us off of our dependence on foreign oil, etc--he is campaigning on anti abortion, anti birth control, anti higher education, anti women in the workplace, and anti separation of Church and State. Mittens flip flops too much--you really don't know what he stands for from one minute to the next. He is so busy trying to appeal to the few right wing wackos that he has lost his appeal to the more centrist level headed voters that make up the majority of this country.
they can do a lot if they want too-look at what clinton did
so much for the election being about the economy and jobs, obviously the gop doesnt care as long as they are getting richer and richer they are very happy with the staus quo
Funny, all this talk about obama, and I suddenly have the urge to go take a crap.
The mainstream media follows the Republican candidates around and videotapes their every move. It is odd that the same media remains curiously uninterested in the sitting President's past.. no access to his college records, not one inflammatory remark in all his days of being a Community Activist (whatever that is), his time as a State Senator, etc. As a libertarian, I don't approve of any of the people leading the Republican run offs, but I am very concerned by the bias in this media. I am old enough to remember the time the media was respected, and played a positive roll in society as the 4th estate. Now, it is little more than a sop for the Democratic/Liberal/Progressive view. They will tear this society down and our children will curse us.
oh boo hoo boo hoo-its been 4 years plus and we still havent found anything in obamas past and he just hasnt said anything as stupid as rick or mitt, I guess people didnt care too much about the 48 states remark, the media is just so unfair so i guess i will have to go listen to limbaugh and hanity for 5 hours straight to make me feel better.
I cannot believe that anyone can actually believe that Santorum is Presidential! This guy wants America to be like it was, NEVER WAS! He is really a scary individual. He would take this country backwards. And every woman that thinks she has rights will not have any left by the time he is done. And as for education --- forget it as they will even get worse than what it going on now. And best yet is that he will tell you what is wrong but offers nothing, as does Romney, in the way of offering a solution!.
he wont survive this remark, romney will make sure of it, he already is hammering rick on it and he should, ricks political career is over, however im sure he would be welcome in church politics where he belongs
Once again, Slick Rick reminds the nation of who he truly is. Deep down, he really doesn't care about unemployment. Deep down, he really is in tune with the comments made by Rev. Dennis Terry. There's a reason Pennsylvanians threw him out of office 6 years ago (by a landslide 17% for an incumbent during a time when 90+% incumbents were easily re-elected). But go ahead, GOP voters, keep casting your votes for him. Continue down the path of destroying your chances in November, and not just in the presidential race. Good luck out in the wilderness for the next four years.
I must admit I voted for rick in michigan because I knew he could never beat obama and if hes on the top of there ticket the dems will take back the house, so in defense of the gop not all of them are the reason rick has did so well
Santorum doesn't care about unemployment...says that the government's responsibility is only to make create a positive atmosphere for job creation. How much more posiitve can it get? Tax rates for businesses are historical lows. Where are the jobs? They have succeeded in de-regulation so the banking industry, Wall Street, etc are basically left on their own to run things as they see fit. (That worked out great as we saw in 2008) Where are the jobs? Oh that's right--they have shipped them overseas where they pay people in other countries slave wages to increase their bottom line and "import" the goods back here to us to buy. Newsflash--when the middle class has no jobs and therefore no income--who is going to buy all of their Made in Taiwan crap?
Actually candidate Santorum is VERY concerned about unemployment.....HIS! As for the rest of us he could give a rats rump!
Job Creation
http://energytomorrow.org/job-creation/#/type/all
America's oil and natural gas industry supports 9.2 million men and women across the United States in a wide range of highly skilled, well-paying
professions. In fact, oil and natural gas industry exploration and production
wages are more than double the national average. An analysis of
API's public data, independent research and corporate annual reports finds that
the industry distributed $176 billion in wages paid to U.S. employees, plus
benefits and payments to oil and natural gas leaseholders.
Oil and natural gas companies invest in cutting-edge
technology and offer fulfilling careers to the next generation of American
engineers, geophysicists, chemists, earth scientists, geologists, climate
experts and explorers. These individuals, working with the best technologies,
will help find and recover oil and natural gas here and abroad and help secure
America's energy future. In addition, the industry employs professionals that
most people don't normally associate with our industry, such as botanists and
marine biologists, even zoologists and veterinarians.
With the right government policies in place, the oil and
natural gas industry can create more American jobs that can help grow the U.S.
economy, generate substantial new revenues for government and provide greater
energy security for our nation.
In fact, with increased access to U.S. oil and gas
resources we can create 1
million new jobs in the next ten years alone. To put that in perspective,
that would provide enough jobs for nearly every citizen of Rhode Island. A
recent study by Wood
Mackenzie found that by 2030, nearly 1.4 million new jobs could be added
through policies which encourage development of America's oil and natural
resources, and facilitate Canadian
oil sands production through the development of Keystone XL and other
related piplines. A few examples are as follows:
Shale alone could create 160,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, 20,000 jobs in
New York and 30,000 jobs in West Virginia by 2015.
exploration and development could result in up to 100,000 new
Florida jobs by 2016--just with increased access to federal areas
within the Gulf of Mexico.
the Keystone XL
pipeline could generate nearly
85,000 jobs by 2020
To learn more about the Wood Mackenzie study and view
state specific job creation numbers, view this interactive job creation map.
Nice list of completely debunked Keystone XL numbers. Nobody's buying it anymore.
This is just an example of the poverty of American politics. Candidates cannot stand by their statements because they must make sure they aren't offending anyone. In other words, you have to believe in everything and wind up believing in nothing except becoming president, which is basically the position of everyone except Ron Paul, who won't win the nomination because he stands by his positions. Sometimes I think we should scrap it all and bring back the divine right of kings idea. That way we can avoid the quadrennial liars contest known as the presidential election campaign.
I think with Santorum there will be 100% employment. We'll all be very busy fixing his mistakes.
I hereby resign from any further disparagement or negative commentary about Rick Sanctorum. He's doing a far better job of diminishing himself, and exposing his intellectual bankruptcy and religious fanaticism by talking every day, than I ever could in a thousand blogs. Go get 'em Rick.
Any body who thinks they could do better than these canadates are out there in unreality. Won't take much to beat a president who promised it all but accomplished nothing. A social activist never makes for presidental material. Either one of these candiadates could do better. No more socialists for me sounds like the America we know and love.
Except that you Tealiban members with your bogus "socialist" blather are in the distinct minority. And the rest of us think you're crazy. Sorry. You lose the election.
Go ahead and admit it Rick - your real focus is to insure that no one is have non-procreative sex and that every fetus is taken to term no matter how hideously deformed or unwanted. Everything else falls into place as long as that is not happening - RIGHT!
Finally he speaks the truth and he is 100% correct.
The GOP will let this country slide into oblivion as long as gays sit in the back of the bus and women stay pregnant and barefoot in the kitchen.
What is already out
and proven fact is Republicans want to Kill Medicare Medicaid and SS and have
voted to end them clearly in Paul Ryans Budget while giving Millionare and
Billionares Huge tax cuts and Cuts to Businesses rates while raising taxes on
the only classes that republicans care nothing about the Middle class and the
poor.
The Renewable energy
companies you mentioned were approved by George W Bush and the Republican panel
that now wants the email of the president to try and divert the focus of creating
jobs to BS. Bush and Cheney who was CEO of Haliburton who do all the rebuilding
overseas that we been funneling trillions over there cant keep up with the
billions missing that are under republican financial committee.
GOP = Grand
Obstructionist Party = Gas Oil PARTY. They care nothing for the 99 percent of
Americans and would give every dollar America had to the rich and hope that
trickle down works this time since it never had before and really is just
someone pissing on you from above. No thank you Tea Baggers and republicans.
Vote Democrats in
2012 and that is the true next wave coming. 99 percent.........