Rick Santorum Going to Iowa; Is He Mulling 2012 White House Bid?
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) is going to Iowa in October to speak at the University of Dubuque about the future of the Republican Party and to attend a luncheon in Des Moines with a pro-life group.
Santorum will participate in events with Iowa conservatives who are active in the caucus process, his associate John Brabender told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Politicians lay the groundwork for a White House bid by building support with key players in the Iowa caucuses, the first step on the road to the White House.
In an effort to keep expectations low, Santorum says that he has not decided if he will run for the White House in 2012. “It is not something that I would not do, but it is not something that am planning to do, it is just way too early,” he told the paper.
The October trip, Santorum said, “gets more attention because it is Iowa, but I am also doing events in North Carolina and other states as well.” He has also confirmed trips this fall to California, Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan .
But on his America’s Foundation PAC website, Santorum sounds like a man running for president: “If you asked me a year ago what I would be doing today, I would have said spending more time with my family and focusing on my new business ventures. But with the leftward lurching of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and their liberal allies in Congress, I feel like I can no longer sit on the sidelines.”
He goes on to seemingly lay out a campaign platform. “That is why I am speaking out in support of traditional, conservative ideals and voice my opposition to President Obama’s attempts to nationalize the nation’s healthcare system, destroy our domestic energy industry through a cap-and-tax scheme, appoint activist judges to the bench and put our national security in jeopardy.”
Once the third-ranking leader in the Senate, Santorum lost his seat to Democrat Robert Casey in 2006 by a margin of 59 to 41 percent. “One of the reasons he lost was because he refused to budge on his conservative values,” said Brabender.
Santorum has maintained a high profile in the media with regular appearances of Fox News Channel, hosting Bill Bennett’s “Morning in America” national radio show every Friday and writing an opinion column in The Philadelphia Inquirer twice a month. He has also embraced social media outlets with regular updates on his Facebook page and Twitter account.
Santorum represented Pennsylvania in the Senate from 1995 to 2007 and in the House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995. Along with his media roles, he is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) think tank.
According to the EPPC website, Santorum is also writing a book on the “gathering storm of the 21st century — the challenges posed by radical Islamic fascism and its growing alliances around the world.”
Responding to Santorum’s planned trip to Iowa, Luke Bernstein, executive director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said the party “would be excited to see a Republican from the Keystone State in the running for the White House. Rick has been an incredibly strong voice for conservatives, and his passion is sorely missed in the U.S. Senate. That being said, 2012 is a lifetime away.”
