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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Touching down in the Palmetto State for just a few hours, Rick Santorum said he wanted to get a head start on campaigning here before candidates start flooding the state on January 11th.
“I wanted to plant the flag here before New Hampshire,” Santorum told reporters before his rally at Chiefs sports bar here, where more than 200 supporters greeted him with a hero’s welcome of whooping and applause.
Santorum’s whirlwind afternoon, capped off with an endorsement from influential conservative leader Gary Bauer, was a marked departure from his trips here before he picked up steam in Iowa, said former Rep. Gresham Barrett, Santorum’s South Carolina chair.
“For the first six months, ten months, we would do an event and we’d have one person, two people, ten, you know, 25 was fantastic,” Barrett told NBC News.
“You feed off this kind of excitement and it’s indicative of what we saw in Iowa, what we’re seeing in New Hampshire and I believe how we’re going to do in South Carolina.”
Santorum made a point to emphasize the centrality of South Carolina – which has picked every Republican nominee since 1980 – to his electoral prospects.
“We cannot win without you,” he told the crowd at Chiefs, asking them to give him a win similar to that which propelled Ronald Reagan to the nomination in 1980, after he lost New Hampshire to George H.W. Bush.
“Ronald Reagan won South Carolina because South Carolina said to the country, we want stark contrasts,” Santorum said. “South Carolina can deliver that message and if you do, I guarantee you that we will have the horses available to go and run this table and you will keep your record intact.”
Santorum, who navigated the crowd with his arm around his wife Karen, added that his whole family would be in South Carolina for the run-up to the vote – even his toddler daughter Bella, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder.
“We knew that breathing some of this free air here in South Carolina would be good for her lungs,” Santorum said. “This is the first state where we’ve put everybody in place. We are going to crisscross this state between now and January 21st.”
In addition to his family, Santorum will have influential Christian conservative leader Gary Bauer in his corner. Bauer, a 2000 presidential candidate who served in both Reagan administrations, praised Santorum as “the next Ronald Reagan” while introducing him at Stax restaurant here.
“For me, Ronald Reagan has always defined what the right political prescription was for the United States,” Bauer said. “As I listened to [Santorum], I realized the next Ronald Reagan had been standing in front of me all this time and I hadn’t been paying attention.”
While Santorum said he was humbled to be compared to the conservative icon, he added that Bauer was qualified to make such a statement.
“I shrink from that to be compared with Ronald Reagan,” he said before adding, “If Gary Bauer says this is the Reagan conservative, he knows better than anyone else in this country who the Reagan conservative is.”
Santorum also urged the crowd at Stax, mostly Republicans from Greenville County, a socially conservative part of the state’s Upstate region (which had the highest voter turnout in 2008), to choose their nominee wisely.
“South Carolina has to speak clearly, particularly in the Upstate, that we do not need just a little better than what we have now; we need big change in Washington D.C.,” he said.
While Santorum urged South Carolina to vote with one voice, some influential conservatives like Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention have recently warned that too many candidates vying for the “anti-Romney” mantle might prevent South Carolina from, as Santorum put it, speaking clearly.
Bauer, however, said he would not join in with Land to encourage second-tier candidates to drop out of the race now so that conservatives could coalesce around one candidate – even if it boosted Santorum.
“I ran myself in 2000, I know what it feels like as a candidate when you’re working really hard and somebody suggests you drop out of the race so I’m not going to do that. But I do think it will naturally happen over time and probably sooner rather than later,” Bauer told NBC.
When Santorum was asked, however, whether other candidates need to drop out of the race to make room for him, he warmed, half-jokingly, to the notion. “It would be nice if everybody did,” he said as reporters chuckled. “I mean, sure, if everybody drops out and says, ‘yeah, Rick’s the guy,’ I’d take it.”
But until that happens, Santorum will still have to contend with current frontrunner Mitt Romney, whom Santorum prodded briefly at the NBC/Facebook debate over the former Massachusetts governor’s decision not to run for re-election.
When asked by NBC News why he seemed to back off after that singular jab against Romney, Santorum responded, “I don’t go in there to beat up on another candidate.”
That didn’t stop him, however, from touting his anti-Romney offensive during his rally at Chiefs.
“I still have some blood on my sleeve from Mitt Romney after that debate,” Santorum said as the crowd burst into cheers.
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This guy a religious cult member and in South Carolina you have a lot of racists cult members ..he will fit in well ... This clown is to weird for me ..I don't believe or trust him .. 92% of America is against the way he thinks ...and the scary part is.. he see's nothing wrong with his agenda ! He is whats wrong with the GOP and whats wrong with the United States !
I thought he was against planting things.
Let me guess: it was a confederate flag.
PA didn't vote him out of office for no reason! Beware: the Catholic church trump card is in the making.
yeah but you believe this little liberal bias brainwashed reporter
from psmnbc? oh your brainwashed too!
For some reason Rick is sure obsessed with other people's private lives. He still believes that gay is catching and not how God made you. And if elected president wants all the gays to move back into their closets like they chose to be gay.
Rick wants to be the Jesus candidate, but forgets that Jesus wasn't judgemental. Gay is how God made you, who is Rick to judge?
Then he thinks that it is his right to tell others if they can use birth control.
All this from the man who keeps a picture of his dead baby on his desk, not a picture of a child that once was alive, but a picture of literally a dead baby. But does he really think that after the pain of a miscarriage or a still-born that the parents should suffer a murder investigation that would be part of the new person-hood amendment the republicans who pretend to care about life want to pass.
After you are born the republicans have no problem denying the child health care, food or a decent education. How phony pretend you care about life for 9 months and then you never have to care again.
It seems all the candidates main objective is to get rid of the dreaded Obama-care and replace it with Nobody-cares brought to you by the republicans.
Jesus wasn't judgemental? Huh, there's a take I've never heard before.
Its just odd that both "Ricks "seem so preoccupied with what goes on between other mens legs !
Rick Perry's state is at the bottom in the nation in terms of education and health care. He must like it that way since he is so proud of his record.
Perry wants to make sure there is a ready supply of poor, uneducated lawbreakers to fry down thar in Texas.
Rick Santorum is a creation of the Iowa republican caucus. He is polling around 6% in New Hampshire, currently it is Mitts 34%, Dr Paul 24%, Huntsman 17% TheGrinch 10%. Santy 6% Perry <1% with around 9% undecided.
In fact the Exit Polling from Iowa was leaked yesterday showing the Dr Paul won at 31% to Mitts 24% No wonder the media stated they wern't going to use exit polls the day of the caucus. Nobody with any real brains believes the Republican party reported results out of Iowa anymore.
All it seems like they did was delay the inevitable. The real debates should be between Dr Paul and Mitts and the rest of the turkeys need to get out of the way.
This manipulative process the Party is using to get their "Chosen" one to the nomination is destroying the parties (the democrats do this crap also) and trust in politics in general.
Santy is going nowhere and the voters are not fooled. lets get to the red meat of the election and leave the cheezy bits behind.
Egilman,
Did you read the article about the evangelical leader who wants some of the others to drop out so that there will be just one "true conservative" to run against Romney? I read it on MSNBC, but for the life of me I can't remember his name.
James Dobson is one of the leaders who was planning the meeting in Texas. They were meeting at a ranch that a 'big' Perry supporter owns.
Smart move, heading to South Carolina early. Now, when the New Hampshire results are read, that asterik will be included. "Romney wins with x percent of the vote, distantly followed by blah, blah, blah including Santorum with blah percent, who has been actively campaigning in South Carolina..."
I don't think Santorum really has a card left in his hand that can trump anything Slick Willard is holding (especially now that Perry is a de facto member of Team Slick One), but Santorum does have to play out the game with the cards he does have.
Santorum plants a flag in SC? Tell me, was it a Confederate flag?
I'm guessing it was a rainbow flag.
Don't worry Ricky baby. You'll pick up all the votes from the Kooks, Krazies, Konfused. South Carolinians, don't like anything to do with DC, because it interferes with their elegant, ante bellum life style. DC took away their slaves, and made them stay in the Union, after they rebelled. Don't forget, they declared war on the Union at Fort Sumter. It is those people along with some trailer trash who will vote for you. The rest will have studied your record of representing your beliefs, rather than your constituents, when you were in the Senate. They will wonder why we tossed you out of PA, so that you now live near DC. Good riddance. Sta;y away from PA. Now that the Dixiecrats are part of the Republican Party, you may get a following. Don't forget, it was the Republicans, under Lincoln who made S.C. buckle under, and that it was the radical Republicans who disregarded Lincoln's plans and recontructed the South. Figure that one out.
Really? I've lived in SC since 1984. He doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning here because he is Roman Catholic - they'll vote for the Mormon before him. Those upstate Bob Jones conservatives will hold their collective noses and vote for Romney or Gingrich. Ron Paul will do well also. That's just my take, can't wait to see what happens.
Santorum who only wants to be President to get an audience with the Pope has to get to S Carolina and hit the ground running. In NH he didn't even have enough money to put on TV ads and a million or two really does little to improve that.
Santorum is going all the way!
In his heart, Santorum would like the Federal government to ban contraceptives so that every family results in 7-10 kids, just like his.
Apparently when he tried to have the last one, even god said no!
Santorum's ugly, a bigot, and the plants placentas in his backyard. He loved Pennsylvania so much, when they voted him out, he bought a house in Virginia. Google Santorum, I think most descriptions on there are pretty accurate
Have you heard about a liberterian Called Ron Paul that tries to get your atention while ALL the media discrediting him calling him "Unelectable"..? Don't you ever wonder why the media all owned by the 1% dont want you to elect Ron Paul who wants to lay waste to NDAA, Patriot act and Sopa and give you The 99% your rights back ? There is almost nothing about Ron Paul on CNN, Msnbc, Fox or ABC about him. Santorum gets more attention than Ron Paul. Dont you wonder why ?
I cant post a link hear but if you youtube this :
Judge Napolitano: What if they're lying to you about Ron Paul?
You will get the answer why. Please give five minuts of your time and check the answer ! I promise it will restart your brain and you will be happy you did this.
Best Regards
Did you know that Ron Paul made all of the doctors at his practice 1) agree to never do an abortion while there, 2) treat and medicaid patients at 0 cost. And did not Bill the Medicare system
Did you know that Ron Paul gave $180,000 back to the Treasury last year? It was the unused portion his Congressional Operating budget. In fact he's done it for many years.