Former Senator Rick Santorum slammed his fellow Republican presidential contender Rick Perry on Tuesday and questioned the Texas governor’s ability to maintain a lead in the polls.
Speaking to reporters in Harrisburg, Penn., PoliticsPA reports, Santorum said: “We’ll see how conservative Rick Perry really is. He hasn’t been in a debate yet. There are a lot of things about his record that will give a conservative pause.”
Santorum attacked Perry for supporting the DREAM act, which would give conditional permanent residence to immigrants who arrived illegally as minors and met several conditions.
He also attacked Perry for his endorsements in past races, specifically for supporting Al Gore in 1988* and Rudy Giuliani in 2008. “I can’t imagine any point in time in my life that I would think of supporting Al Gore for anything,” Santorum told the crowd. Of the Giuliani endorsement Santorum said: “He was supporting a pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, pro-bigger government Mayor of New York.”
Santorum’s “strongest language,” PoliticsPA said, came when he discussed Perry’s support of a law that required all girls in Texas to be vaccinated against the Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease and a significant cause of cervical cancer. (RELATED: Rick Perry’s camp defends 1993 HillaryCare praise)
“To require it, and have parents have to be aware of it and have to opt out, that is the heavy hand of government. That is something I’d expect from Barack Obama, not someone who says they’re a conservative,” Santorum said.
Perry has said that his position at the time was a “mistake.”
Recent polls have shown Perry with a formidable lead over the rest of the field: A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll found Perry leading with 27 percent of the vote. Santorum attracted just one percent in that poll. Nonetheless, Santorum said there was still significant room for movement and for another candidate to take the lead.
“They said the same thing about Michele Bachmann a few weeks ago. Candidates have gone from zero to 30 points, and then back down to two. It happened to Herman Cain, now Michele Bachmann is drifting down,” Santorum said.
The two Ricks will face off at the next Republican primary debate on September 7.
*This article previously mistakenly stated that Perry supported Al Gore in 2000.