Rick Santorum Touts Himself as the Anti-Romney of Socioeconomic Issues
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum blasted rival Mitt Romney at the this past weekend's Values Voter Summit, saying the former Massachusetts governor does not reflect the conservative values of the Republican base. Santorum echoed conservative calls for a candidate who will stand tall on social and fiscal issues.
After emphasizing at the summit the importance of having a presidential candidate who is comfortable talking about social issues, Santorum, a vocal pro-life, pro-family advocate, told The Christian Post he is the perfect anti-Romney.
"We're building a campaign based on being the credible alternative to Gov. Romney,” Santorum told CP. “We're the conservative credible alternative to a Republican who is well certainly less conservative than I think most of the Republican Party is today."
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Unlike Romney, Santorum said, he believes economic and social issues are inextricably tied together.
Romney shared with the audience of the Values Voter Summit the story of his marriage.
"We know that marriage is more than a socially rewarding social custom. It's also critical for the well-being of a civilization," he stated.
Romney assured the audience that he would appoint an Attorney General who would protect the federal Defense of Marriage Act. DOMA defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
However, several conservatives have expressed doubts about the former governor's commitment to pro-families issues.
Author Amy Contrada said she once campaigned for Romney, but exposed him in her book Mitt Romney’s Deception as having worked closely with gay rights activists in his cabinet. Romney also declined to sign a traditional marriage pledge by the Family Leader.
Santorum did sign the pledge. He assured listeners Friday that he is "comfortable in his shoes" when it comes to discussing social issues and shared stories of his time battling the Senate on issues of abortion, marriage and entitlement reform.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), said candidates need to talk more about how economics and family issues are related.
"There needs to be a clear understanding and articulation of the fact the economic issues, the challenges that we're facing, are clearly connected to the family," Perkins told CP.
Santorum told audience members at the Summit last weekend, "At the root of the success of America, is ... this understanding that the size and scope of America is directly related to the virtue of her people.” He continued, “Go into the neighborhoods where there is a lack of virtue, what will you find? You find two things: you will find no families, no mothers and fathers together in marriage, and you will find government everywhere."
Perkins said candidates who stand strong on social and economic issues are electable.
"Four years ago ... Mitt Romney was leading in Iowa, [2008 GOP presidential candidate] Mike Huckabee was really trailing behind. He came [to the 2007 Values Voter Summit and] he hit those issues, the value issues, the social issues as well as the foreign policy issues and economic issues, and his campaign took off," Perkins explained. "He won Iowa, went to be a very strong candidate."
Huckabee's GOP support entering the 2012 race was also very high until he announced that he would not join the race.
Santorum said he is hoping to gain that same slow momentum. He told CP that he does not plan on dropping out of the race anytime soon. Rather he plans to continue persuading conservatives to embrace his brand of social and economic policy.
