Politics & Government

VIDEO: Rick Santorum, in Mount Pleasant, Reacts to Key Iowa Endorsements

The candidate continued his Faith, Family and Freedom Tour of Iowa with a stop at the public library in Mount Pleasant Tuesday afternoon. Patch was there to ask him about the endorsement he had received from leaders of the Family Leader.

Rick Santorum is the only Republican candidate for president who has spent a large portion of time in Iowa but not spend any time as flavor of the week.

Instead, he has been working away at it. He's visited all 99 counties, some of them several times, looking for that spark that will give him momentum. Today, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania may have received that spark, in from Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley, leaders of the influential evangelical political group, the Family Leader. The group itself has not endorsed anyone.

"People say, 'When are you going to get your spark?' I say January 3. We are building ... We've had a series of the last couple of weeks," Santorum said at the Mount Pleasant Library where he held a town hall meeting Tuesday.

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During the stop, Santorum emphasized his consistent conservative credentials to a crowd of about 45, many of whom had also attended the down the road at the Mount Pleasant Hy-Vee a few hours earlier.  Santorum focused on the traditional nuclear family as a basic pillar of the economy, freedoms derived from God, and his ability to win the swing state Pennsylvania several times as a conservative before being ousted in 2006.

Santorum criticized Romney, arguing that he ran as a liberal and a moderate to win the Massachusetts governorship and has never won anything when espousing conservative positions. Santorum said that even when he lost his Pennsylvania senate seat in a liberal electoral tidal wave in the state, he didn't compromise his positions.

Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I didn't run to the left or to the middle to win a race," Santorum said.

Beth Scandridge, 46, a Mount Pleasant mother who home schools her two children, asked Santorum a question about homeschooling, and she liked the candidate's answer about removing federal government controls and giving control back to parents.

"I liked the fact that he said it is the parent's responsibility to educate a child," she said.

Scandridge said she and her husband, Bill, decided to homeschool their children to also provide them with the true Christian history of the United States.

Dawn V. Wheat, 74, of Mount Pleasant, said she likes many of the conservative candidates, but likes Santorum the best because he seems genuine.

"I believe that he is in this for the country, and not in it for himself like some other candidates are," Wheat said.


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