Politics

Santorum Pitches To Populist Americans

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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Rick Santorum downplayed immigration, but played up his outreach to blue-collar Americans in his CPAC speech.

“Wages over time have stagnated [and] median income is declining in America, we need someone who can unite this country around an economic vision that can pull us together…focused on working men and women who are struggling today,” Santorum to the CPAC crowd.

In the GOP 2012 primaries, Santorum lost to Gov. Mitt Romney, and came in second place. Four years later, real unemployment is higher and Santorum is sharpening his pitch to the populist side of the GOP’s base.

In 2012, “I won [many state primaries] because I stood for someone, the little guy, the American workers, and if were going to win in 2016, we need to stand for the little guy today,” he said.

On the stump, “I talk about the 70 percent of Americans who don’t have a college education,” he said.

That’s a coherent campaign plan — but certainly not foolproof — because Romney lost in 2012 because he did poorly among the swing-voting blue-collar workers in the MidWest.

But CPAC’s politically engaged audience is more devoted to the libertarian pitch from Sen. Rand Paul, and crowd-pleasing jibes from non-candidates, such as Donald Trump and Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson.

And candidates for the GOP nomination need a lot of cash from wealthy donors who tend to favor large-scale immigration.

Santorum downplayed his hard-nosed populist pitch against large-scale immigration and the GOP’s moneyed establishment, perhaps for later resuscitation if he can fund his campaign with small donations.

He filled out his speech by championing Israel and calling for strenuous action by the United States against the expanding Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

To fight Adolf Hitler, “all we needed to do was read [his] book… all we need to do is read [ISIS’] books, and we’ll know that they want to do to the West,” he said.

He jabbed at Democrats’ effort to shape the world’s weather. “We don’t need a weatherman in chief, we need a commander-in-chief… we need to start by crushing ISIS, now,” he said.

“If Iran gains a nuclear weapon we will have failed,” he said.

Santorum touted religious freedom saying “I have fought for everybody to be able to come into the public square and make their case.”

His speech ended with a recorded campaign song. “Game on, victory is in sight… God gave us the bill of rights… there is hope for our nation again…justice for the unborn, factories back on our shores and the constitution rules our land… Game on, he’s got the plan to lower taxes, raise morale and put the power in our hands.”

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