Politics

Santorum gauges support for 2012 presidential run in S.C.

Paul Conner Executive Editor
Font Size:

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Former Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum made three stops across South Carolina Wednesday to make stump speeches and gauge his support for a possible run for president.

“I’ve been very clear that that is something I’m considering,” Santorum told The Daily Caller. “I want to make sure that we elect a new president in 2012, and I want to be a part of that process, whether that is as a candidate or as someone talking about the real core issues that are at stake.”

Santorum appeared in Charleston to endorse a candidate for state House, in Columbia for a candidate for attorney general and in Greenville to voice his support for Trey Gowdy, who defeated incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis in the fourth congressional district’s GOP primary.

At the Greenville event, about 60 people, including business leaders and pro-life activists, came out to see Santorum and snacked on ham biscuits, fried pickles, lima beans and bruschetta bread. Santorum showed off his tie emblazoned with palmetto trees and crescent moons, the two features of the South Carolina state flag.

South Carolina, with New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada, has one of the earliest presidential primaries in the nation and is seen a key state in the nomination process, especially for Republican candidates.

“I want to play a role, and at this point, I haven’t made the decision as to what role that is. I’m trying to get a sense of what the people here in South Carolina think of the message and the messenger,” Santorum said.

He said “a lot of people” encouraged him to run Wednesday, but he acknowledged that the visit is “just a step in the process.”

“People have been very kind to me, but generally speaking, people are very kind to you here. It’s part of the gentility of South Carolina,” he said.

Santorum’s 20-minute speech focused on cultural issues as much as it did economic issues, breaking with Tea Party-backed candidates who tend to focus almost exclusively on economic issues like taxes and the federal deficit.

He was at his most passionate when he told the audience that “we are creatures of a divine God” and that “we are founded on the Judeo-Christian worldview.” During his 12 years in the Senate, Santorum authored legislation that outlawed partial birth abortion and has been an outspoken pro-life advocate.

Whether or not he could garner the energy and support of the Tea Party would likely be key to his potential campaign’s success.

Santorum predicted that Republicans will take back control of the Senate in November, but he cautioned the crowd not to become complacent even if the GOP makes significant gains in the midterm elections, stressing that the 2012 election will be just as important.

NEXT: Who is Santorum’s PAC supporting?
“There shouldn’t be a single bottle of champagne with the cork being popped,” Santorum said in his speech. “This should be, you won the first game of the playoffs, you feel good, but you don’t have the championship yet.”

America’s Foundation, Santorum’s political action committee, has also put itself on the political map, having contributed $26,500 to Republican candidates since Jan. 1, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The PAC has supported Carly Fiorina for California governor and Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Charles Grassley of Iowa. Sharron Angle in Nevada and Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, both running for U.S. Senate, are among those who have received support from the PAC.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel