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The letters recently sent out by the Santorum campaign that ripped into Mitt Romney were ordered before he suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, his campaign manager said.
“It truly frightens me to think what’ll happen if Romney is the nominee,” reads the letter, which the Des Moines Register reported showed up in Iowa mailboxes on Monday – almost a week after Santorum announced he would abandon his bid for the White House.
The two-page appeal for money repeats the most frequently used attacks Santorum leveled against his rival on the trail, mainly that Romney is "a moderate from Massachusetts" who will not be able to mount a real challenge to President Barack Obama on issues like health care.
When asked by NBC News whether the letters were ordered before Santorum's decision to exit the race, his former campaign manager Mike Biundo replied, "Of course."
But the strongly-worded rebuke of Romney triggered speculation about whether it was intentional.
Santorum has yet to endorse a candidate. During a conference call on Monday, he did not dismiss the idea of supporters still voting for him in the Pennsylvania primary next week. “As far as how you vote, that’s up to you,” Santorum told those who phoned in. “I haven’t supported any candidate at this point, so that’s really up to you.”
On the trail, Santorum repeated that the health care legislation Romney signed as governor of Massachusetts makes him "uniquely disqualified" to challenge the president on health care.
"Republicans and conservatives will be crippled by a nominee who presents zero contrast with Barack Obama on the major issues of this election," the letter reads.
But the fundraising appeal is also a reminder of the debt Santorum's campaign is now attempting to pay. Monday's call with thousands of voters featured multiple appeals for money from call moderator and longtime political aide Mark Rogers.
One of the final lines of the letter read, somewhat forebodingly, "If you do nothing – or if you put off answering my letter by even a few days -- it'll be too late."
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Rick Santorum belongs in the court room were he can be the truely miserable person that he truely is.....
Besides, who runs for president but forgets to register in several district?????
Rick Santorum......what a putz!
No, no, the word that comes to mind is Dufuss
Wonder how long it will take Santorum to "Etch-A-Sketch" and become a Romney supporter?
Ya know what frightens me, they way politicians of the same party denigrate each other before the election and then miraculously come together like nothing ever happened. The general voting public is suppose to make up their minds with all this crap said about each candidate. Absolutely astounding what they do to get elected. I mean really who would want to vote for anyone that is said to be bad for the country. The information overload by each candidate makes it impossible to believe anyone, nor cast a vote for any of them. Lord help us.
Is there a leader in the house? They sure don't seem to be making any these days. First the Newt and now inSantorum doing the Samson number - if I can't win, I'll tear everything down around me. For cryin in a bucket, pull up your big girl panties and act like an adult - we have a country that is going down the tubes, a prez who thinks he is already coronated as Imperial Poo-Ba the First, to govern by edict and non-constitutional appointees, a congress which will not address its duties to deliver a real budget, and the Republicans are more interested in tearing each other down than building a real platform and candidate. Not a leader to be seen, say "Adios, America", or whatever the Chinese language version is - we are down the crapper.
And to all those Obama supporter's on the left......I hear there's great opportunities and lots of land for sale in Cuba..........so take the 1st flight if you find it so bad here in the United States of America.
And once you move, try doing or saying the things you say in the U.S.A. and you will find yourself behind bars and that's not the drinking kind of bar....
Ayatollah clean house has spoken!
You got an issue with Ozzie Guillen.....
Anytime some lowbrow is telling me to leave the country I know I'm on the right track. You just gotta love the "America, love it or leave it" crowd. They live and die by the status quo, no matter how much it down grades life in this great country.
I've got a real newsflash for you somewhatcleanhouse, we aren't going anywhere and we will continue to fight for an America that is firmly in the 21st century and able to compete on any playing field in the world. We're not afraid of the future or the greatness that it can bring. We refuse to opine for the "good old days" which quite frankly weren't all that good. Feel free to live in the not so glorious past, we'll just move forward without you. We need to get back our status as a leader in education, manufacturing and healthcare. If you want to stand in the way of this, well, we will either go around you or through you. Either way, we will always fight to move this country forward.
Pitiful.
Romney is a liberal in Moderates clothing. Sadly, Romney's nomination will probably seal Obama's reelection and doom this country. Both Romney and Obama both will push this country to socialism, just Obama is doing it at a sprint instead of a jog.
Probably the only thing that could possibly save this country will require the government to go bankrupt and force the people to suffer and start over. Not a good option, but we are getting there.
Remember, the government can not give people something it hasn't taken from someone else. To give someone something with out the work, then someone else had to do the work without receiving something.
I heard that Palin has rented an office in Tampa for the convention. I am not much of a Republican these days but the GOP is very fragile right now and the last thing they need is HER around. She could fracture the entire party
By any measure, Palin is not a good face for the GOP, at least in terms of winning elections.
The Republicans wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for conservatives. Conservatives seem to be on a mission to make the Brain as small as possible.
You dorks always say that Obama has failed as President, well I think he did a great job considering the intentional opposition meted out by the Repug Congress. From the first their goal was to destroy Obama and would use any and all manners to achieve their goal even to the detriment of the Country. The Republican Congress is a bunch of traitors and should be removed from office.
The GOP strategy all along has been to NOT win the White House this election or they wouldn't have lived with the embarrassment of the gaggle of goofballs they rounded up this year. You couldn't WRITE a better comedy. So attacking each other ensures that all those conservative sheep will be primed and ready for 2016 when they proffer up a real candidate. One can only wonder who that might be. Besides, they suffered through a non-white in the White House, they know a Mormon has NO chance when the 'Christians' get wound up.
Cant believe romney is the best the republican party can come up with. We have his original obama care here in MA. and its the worst thing anyone has done for the state. my brother is covered in his obamacare plan but his doctor is 62 miles from him and if he didnt have romneys obamacare, then he would be fined. just how is this crap helping anyone other than the doctors and the state.
No, the worst thing for your brother would be to have no insurance at all. I can assume he is covered by the tax payers, because he couldn't afford to buy his own insurance. So he has to drive an hour to see a doctor - better that, then none at all or do we want him sucking up more tax payer money by resorting to emergency room care only?
first of all santorum is a idiot and second hes no leader him self case in point in one of the debates when mitt said you voted 5 times to raise the debt and that dummy said well some times you have to take one for the team he called george and dicky the team and this idiot would rather have odummy again man hes a real gop person. i would hate to think if sandummy got to pres where he would take us i think it would be about like what we got know
Proof conservatism is dead. If Romney wins, you get a northeastern moderate for at least 4 years, which means a conservative republican cant run for another 8 years. Uncle Ted and the rest of the loony right are gritting their teeth and trying to smile knowing they just got owned
ALL politics [and ALL politicians] have become so dirty, corrupt, deceptive, duplicitous, arrogant,
egotistical, ineffective and downright CRIMINAL that next to them THE MAFIA looks like saints.
I believe the only way this country will ever achieve some level of genuine honesty, character
and INTEGRITY is to enact TERM LIMITS and true TRANSPARENCY of our processes; otherwise
we will wind up in termoil, civil unrest, violence, bankruptcy and a total collapse of our "system",
[and] we will not recover.
Anybody who thinks otherwise needs to explore history and face reality.
You know, the latest CBS poll, Romney (and no one else) vs Obama was tied. Then I looked up the latest Ras poll, and it also showed them tied. However, the Ras poll showed Ron Paul beating Obama, and the explanation was because Ron Paul cuts into the inds and the dems and gets the anyone but Obama crowd, the crowd Romney has won with the media's help. I would say that is a crock, but then I look at the crowds Ron Paul draws, 5600 in Madison, 7000 or so Califronia, thousands of people everywhere he goes to Romney's hundreds.
"If you do nothing, or put off my lettters by even a few days it'll be too late.."
Santorum sounds like Princess Leah in Star Wars when Luke found the halogram of her pleading for help from Obei Wan Kanobie..
"If you do nothing or put off my letters, you may live a life of legalized pornography and with women free to choose between pregnancy and abortion..Help me Obei Wan Kanobie, your my only hope..."
If MSDNC was fair and balanced they would have also posted what Santorum thought about the current regime...
Sheep, I think we're all pretty clear on what Santorum thinks of the current regime.
This letter sounds like a tv evangelist telling sinners to send money now before it's too late. Like giving them money is going to bring you prosperity and cure your affliction, oh my they do sound exactly alike. If he doesn't endorse Romney which after saying he is frightened if he gets the nomination how can he, who would he endorse? No way will he endorse a womanizer who gets rid of his family when a new bimbo comes along, certainly would be against his Christian beliefs, that leaves an old fruitcake. I guess he's backed himself into a corner. Maybe he'll endorse Obama.
Whatever he wrote in them letters, he must be telling the truth, because it sure did touch a lot of nerves on the right wing side. rumney if not fit to be President, and neither is santorum.....actually none of them are fit to be in politics period. And while we're at it, let's clean out congress and send the teaheads home where they belongs.
It was a fear based appeal for money. No nerves were touched and it was no big deal. It was an unnecessary expense for someone who owes money.
Thanks Callie for commenting on the essence of republican governing philosophy and campaign strategy, FEAR BASED APPEAL.
Yet, Santorum endorsed Romney in the last campaign. I thought Santorum's campaign was in debt ... postage for those letters is an unnecessary expense for someone who's no longer a candidate and owes money. Seems a bit odd that they were mailed out. I wish Rick well ... but, if this is an example of his administrative leadership ... I find it much more scary than electing Mitt Romney a successful businessman for President.
Sorry, Callie ~ I'm not as easily placated as you. Its HOW he achieved his success in business that concerns me. That coupled with his inability (or unwillingness) to provide direct answers to questions on issues moved Romney to the back of the pack for me. Romney would have been better served to have courted Santorum for his endorsement than kissing up to Ted Nugent for his. He would have gotten a lot more mileage from Rick than Ted.
This is the big problem with the republicans this time no one wants to step out even when they know they are done and calling the other candidates names they should be supporting, shoes ignorance on their part.
He's definitely not going to get the VP pick now. That possibility frightened me.
If Anyone could claim to be Republican after eight years of George Bush, and a Barnum and Bailey side-show with Palin in 08 , and now the entire gaggle of clowns loosed upon us for two years,--after all this, and the Republican dirty laundry being aired for all to see,--someone would still vote Reppublican, then we are simply lost. We truly are more about game playing than we are about governing this country. Folks , we are in dangerous times.
As opposed to what ... Obama? Are you sitting on you brains or are you stupid?
Hey Callie - who do you have that we don't know about? Better the devil you know than the nitwit you know.
This will be a slam dunk.....
Obama has nothing to run on......he is a failure to the AMERICAN people.
HOPE AND CHANGE my A$$!
How is that working for you goons!
Roger, polling does not support your vacuous conclusions. Just an observation.
Bachata Depents on which polles you listen to. Romney is actually ahead in many polls.
Romney's true colors ~ indeed, those of the entire rightwing ~ are reflected in their reaction to the incendiary remarks of Ted Nugent. Not a one of them has firmly stood up to condemn such rhetoric. Oh, they have talked around it, hinted at it, but since The Nuge is a pillar within the NRA, they'd rather let his seditious commentary go unchallenged than anger the assault rifle crowd by condemning it. Santorum is not an issue. People like Nugent are and failure to rebuke such violent speech and threatened activity is to accept it, endorse it, and embrace it.
Why should anyone stand up against "free speech." The "word monitors" have pushed the attacks against truth too far, and Americans are sick to death of political correctness being used as a tool of verbal oppression. Last time I checked this was the United States, not Obamaland, and political hyperbole is acceptable and different then the revolution and bloodshed the New Black Panthers are calling for in Florida--- don't ya think?
Its not free speech that is at issue here, Callie. Its the message conveyed in that speech that is so totally unacceptable in a civilized society. Of course there are those (you may be one of them) that would go to any extreme ~ any at all ~ to prevent an Obama re-election. I don't consider a veiled threat against the President of the United States to be political hyperbole, nor does it compare in any way with the Zimmerman case in Florida. Irresponsible speech is not to be validated simply because of a political campaign. I have more admiration for you than Romney ~ at least you have a position on the issue, will speak directly to it, and share your inner feelings. He mealy-mouthed around the matter.