Politics & Government

Santorum Going Door to Door, Farm to Farm for Votes

A profile on Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum and his strategy in Iowa from IowaWatch.org.

By: MIKE ANDERSON
IowaWatch staff writer


(This story is another in a series of profiles of likely candidates for the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nomination. IowaWatch will be publishing profiles on other candidates in the next several months. Its focus will be on those who will be campaigning in Iowa for the caucuses.

This version of the story is an abridged version of the original story on IowaWatch.org. You can read the whole story here.)

 

Steve Boender, a soft-spoken farmer from Oskaloosa, Iowa, first met Rick Santorum in May when he drove the Republican presidential candidate to a scheduled speaking event in Pella. Sitting next to him in his Chevy pickup, Boender found the politician surprisingly relatable.

“There was a corn yield calculator lying on the console,” Boender said. Santorum picked it up and asked him what it was. Boender explained how farmers use it to estimate corn yield after the ears had grown in. “He asked a number of questions about corn production, and then he asked if he could keep that corn yield calculator. And I told him, ‘gladly.’

Since then, he has stayed in touch with the former U.S. senator through weekly emails, and in June, Santorum accepted his invitation to visit Boender’s farm and have lunch with his family and friends. Boender thinks Santorum’s conservatism, talk of family values and faith reflects his own beliefs that the country has crossed certain boundaries that it never should have.

In a pre-election cycle dominated by high-profile GOP candidates, the name Rick Santorum might not ring any bells. But his campaign hopes to change that by focusing more on social conservatives like Boender, meeting them face-to-face and trying to schedule at least 31 more visits, more than doubling the time in Iowa so far.

Jamie Johnson, Santorum’s state coalitions director, said success in Iowa will translate into “all the national attention he needs.”

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Presidential Candidate

As Santorum scours Iowa for votes, he continues harping on social conservatism.

Santorum flew out to Oskaloosa County, Iowa, in June to share hamburgers and fruit salad with the Boender family and to continue playing up family and faith themes as he addressed his audience in front of a stone fireplace. The words “Faith,” “Family,” “Friends” and “Farming” were etched into tiles beneath the hearth.

He also said he wanted to repeal Obama’s Affordable Care Act, the new health care law designed to reduce health care costs and make insurance available to all, and, as the farmers in the audience listened, he said he wanted to phase out the subsidy on the corn-dependent ethanol industry. The ethanol industry is strong enough to remain competitive without the federal subsidy, he said.

“I think one of the things that’s holding back ethanol is this idea that it’s not a product that can sustain itself,” he said.

Boender and his farmer friends seemed unfazed.

“Believe me, the ethanol industry is a huge market for the crop I raise,” Boender said. “But that doesn’t mean that phasing out subsidies won’t allow it to stand on its own two feet.”

Chad Hart is an economics professor at Iowa State University, who worked as the U.S. policy and insurance analyst with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. He says that Boender’s assessment is correct for the short term.

“The flooding issues and wet conditions have delayed the planting of corn throughout the U.S., and that tends to push prices up.”

But he said high corn prices are not always a guarantee because of unpredictable market forces. Without a subsidy in place, the ethanol industry could suffer down the line under adverse conditions, as it did in the 2008 recession when plants shut down and people got laid off.

Though much of the national discussion has focused on elimination of the subsidies (the Senate voted to eliminate them 73-27), some lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have suggested retooling it to take effect only in times of need, and to remain tied to oil prices.

Hart said making the subsidy responsive to market forces is a good idea.

Santorum’s voting record shows overwhelming support for foreign and domestic oil projects. Although he has said he supports alternative energies, like ethanol, he voted to defund renewable and solar energy in 1999.

“I believe if you look at my record, you will see I support the advancement of all forms of energy,” Santorum said in the email exchange. “What I do not support is simultaneously subsidizing and incentivizing forms of energy.” He says he disagrees with those who believe green energy can create jobs. Santorum also questions the value of solar and wind energy, because he believes they “do not have the base-load capacity to power” all energy needs. Solar and wind energy advocates don’t disagree, but they argue that solar and wind can make a significant contribution.

The Campaign

Since announcing his candidacy on June 6, Santorum has spent most of his time on the road.

“He’s a fairly energetic speaker,” said Tim Hagle, an associate political science professor at the University of Iowa, who specializes in judicial politics and behavior. Hagle says Santorum will have to focus more on economic issues if he wants any chance at winning the nomination.

“The economy is going to drive this thing,” Hagle said. “He’s got to have a pretty good answer and a pretty good plan of what he can do to help get this economy turned around.”

Hagle’s colleague in the political science department, Associate Professor Cary Covington, agrees. Covington specializes in American politics and the presidency.

“Candidates have always got to do a balancing act between what it takes to win the nomination and what it takes to win the general election,” he said.

“You have to move far enough towards the base to win the nomination, but you don’t want to move any further than you have to, because you have to come back and win those moderate and independent voters during the general election.”

Santorum’s strategy isn’t following that plan, and Johnson, Santorum’s state coalitions director, frames it as a positive attribute.

“He’s not a pandering candidate,” Johnson said. “Some would say that’s a no-no, that in order to win the general election, you have to run to the middle to curry the favor of independents. But I think he believes that by charging up the conservative base, that’s the best way to get victory in the general election and let the independents make their choice.”

Covington remains skeptical. “If you’re competing in a primary or a caucus,” he said, “there’s probably enough [social conservative] voters …in those events to win a sizeable share of the vote, but it’s not going to work in the general election, because that group is just not that big when it comes to the general election electorate.”

Undaunted, Santorum’s staffers are redoubling efforts in Iowa.

“Sen. Santorum is committed to going to all 99 Iowa counties before the Iowa caucuses next February,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be a house-to-house, coffee shop-to-coffee shop strategy. We’re going to have as many house parties, as many town hall meetings in coffee shops and diners as possible.”


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