With repeated vows to stand up for “American workers,” Rick Santorum, the underdog Republican who won the Iowa caucuses in 2012, announced Wednesday his entry into the race for the White House.
“Today is the day we’re going to begin to fight back,” the former Pennsylvania senator told a crowd near his boyhood home in Butler County.
“What about those politicians?” Santorum said, previewing his populist pitch for the campaign trail. “For all those years, what did they do? What did they do for communities across this area and across this country in small town America? They had no plan. They provided no hope. And to that I say, ‘no longer.’”
“I am proud to stand here among you and for you — the American workers who have sacrificed so much — to announce that I am running for president of the United States,” he said.
At the beginning of his speech, Santorum held up a large piece of coal.
“This where my American story started,” the Republican said, telling the story of his grandfather who immigrated from Italy to America.
Speaking of immigration, Santorum said: “Over the last 20 years, we’ve brought into this country, legally and illegally, 35 million mostly unskilled workers. And the result? Over that same period of time, workers wages and family incomes have flatlined.”
“Hillary Clinton and big business,” Santorum said to boos from the crowd, “they have called for a massive influx in unskilled labor. Business does it because they want to control costs. Hillary does it, well, she just wants votes.”
Often derided by critics as a candidate who cares only about social issues, Santorum has been emphasizing his views on economics. He penned a book, “Blue Collar Conservatives” since the last election.
Starting Thursday, Santorum will embark on a “Take Back America Tour,” campaigning in Iowa and South Carolina, his campaign said.
“The tour will take him from the banks of the Mississippi to the eastern shore of the Missouri River for a breakfast discussion with business leaders and employees in Council Bluffs, IA at a HyVee supermarket — which is an employee owned company,” the campaign said. “The following day, Santorum will travel to Florence, S.C. to tour the Southern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology and hold a town hall meeting where he will address the need to revitalize American manufacturing.”
Santorum was in the U.S. Senate until 2007, after losing by 18 points to Democratic opponent Bob Casey in 2006.
In 2012, Santorum had little money, though surprised observers by pulling out a victory in Iowa. By the end of the primary, he finished second to nominee Mitt Romney, having won 11 states.
Santorum starts off today as he did last time he ran — an underdog. Top staffers from 2012, including press aides Hogan Gidley and Alice Stewart, have signed on this year with Mike Huckabee’s campaign. (Both worked for Huckabee in 2008, then Santorum in 2012).
His national Real Clear Politics polling average is at 2.3 percent, with nine other Republicans polling ahead of him. That makes it possible there’s a chance Santorum might be excluded from televised debates that only allow the top ten candidates to participate.