Posted on 12/29/2011 5:11:46 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Rick Santorum took time to shake the hands of everyone who attended his "Faith, Family & Freedom Rally" here Wednesday night, and stayed nearly an hour after the scheduled end of the event to answer questions from the Republican audience. Only then did he take time to talk to the press.
"People are trying to determine right now, 'Who can we really trust?'" the former Pennsylvania senator told a small group of reporters at a brief impromptu press conference after the event. "I think it's going to build. I feel very good that we're not going to stop there and, hopefully, keep moving up the ladder."
The Republican presidential candidate was responding to the latest Iowa poll by CNN and Time magazine that shows him now in third place in the Hawkeye State, moving ahead of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The poll confirmed the widespread impression of many Iowa-watchers that Santorum's low-budget campaign is surging in the final days leading up to next Tuesday's precinct caucuses. According to the CNN/Time poll, Santorum's support has increased from 5 percent to 16 percent in the past three weeks, while Gingrich's support has collapsed from 33 percent to 14 percent.
Santorum refused to speculate on how far "up the ladder" he might climb by the time votes are counted Jan. 3. "No, I'm not going to pick a number and no, I'm not going to tell you what place I'm going to finish," he told reporters.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Drudge is pushing Santorum non-stop now.
Romney’s campaign manager is a good friend of Drudge.
Heartless comment, implying twice, that we are heartless racists if we oppose taxpayer support for illegals
His earlier opposition to fence and everify.
Now he has softened his stance, but I still can’t forget these. Newt is openly pushing for amnesty, so he is the most dangerous candidate. Perry is much, much better. Whichever conservative candidate finishes highest in IA gets my support (santorum,bachmann or perry)
Who is Romney’s campaign manager and what is his connection with Drudge?
Also, Drudge is very close friends with Ann Coulter. If Drudge continues to go after Conservatives like Newt, Conservatives will seek alternative websites.
Perry said people "didn't have a heart" if they couldn't see the position these students have been placed in. He apologized several times, said it he was wrong to have said that; agreed with his wife that it was "insulting" to put it that way; has repeated it is a Texas decision to deal with a federal action of inaction on the border. He has always supported strategic fencing, sealing the border, killing off the cartels and clearly states NO amnesty. His opposition to E-verify has to do with it's awful accuracy and heavy burden on small business. He wants to make it stronger and more accurate.
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Mitt Romney leads the Drudge primary....."Frustrated rivals think they know the secret: a low-profile, hard-driving Republican operative named Matt Rhoades, who is Romney’s campaign manager. Rhoades met Drudge, as POLITICO Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris and co-author Mark Halperin reported in their book “The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008,” when he became research director of the Republican National Committee and was introduced by his predecessor on a special trip to Miami. Rhoades has since been seen as a pipeline to the reclusive Drudge, who now has two veteran Washington reporters working on the site as well."....
“It’s no secret that Matt Drudge has a high-level friend inside the Romney camp, but his favoritism puts him noticeably out of step with other conservative media,” said an aide to one of Romney’s Republican rivals. “Sometimes it’s bias by exclusion, like when conservatives universally slam Romney for his RomneyCare speech and Drudge gives him a pass."........[and there is more] Source
I refuse to lose to Obama by putting up inferior candidates who can speak in a debate but will get chewed up in ads and speeches instead of putting up the best candidate with the best record.
If we try to out slick or out personality Obama, we will lose. If we put a superior record up to Obama we will win.
We can't just say "vote for X because Obama sucks" we have to say "vote for X because this is what he has done with the same conditions as the current occupant."
Maybe a Perry/Newt ticket would be the key, hey Moses needed Aaron to talk to Pharaoh but it was Moses who had the record.
Sheriff Arpaio endorsed him. That helps me accept Perry.
I’d vote for Santorum if he were the candidate. He’s better than Mitt or Newt in my opinion.
I’m still waivering a bit on my vote. Perry has been my second choice for sometime..
Gov. Perry has the best chance going forward — with his record, ground organization and funding. If he has a strong showing in Iowa, he will be a powerful force against the Romney wing.
I truly wish him well. I think Perry has been treated unfairly, even though his heartless comment and his HPV shot irked me in the beginning..lol.
I sincerely hope he is driven to govern by the Constitution as well.
Thank you. He is.
“SANTORUM (53) – lawyer [Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. – D.C. and Pittsburg offices since ’07]”
Oh, they meant *Pittsburgh*, as in the city in PA? What a difference an H makes!
On a serious note, I think that Santorum is peaking at the right time and could emerge from IA as the conservative (and non-heroin/Iran enabling) option to Romney. I predicted Newt’s rise several months ago; and I predicted, in Yoda-like fashion, that “there is another” and that it was Santorum about a month ago when Newt was starting to founder (that second prediction was more hopeful than anything else, but I honestly thought that Santorum might break through because he was the only conservative candidate who had not already been tried out and spit out by conservative voters). Santorum needs to finish at least third in IA and then take the battle to SC.
My morning "oops" - Pittsburgh.
That’s OK.
BTW, looking at the brief bios that you wrote (and that I had assumed came from AP or something), Perry has held public office for 26, not 20, years, right?
Gracious. I was looking at the ‘91. I guess if you add his 5 years in the Air Force you could say he’s served over 30 years.
Who knew that Drudge and Coulter would become anti-Conservative in the 2012 election? Disgusting.
Times have changed. Free Republic needs to start a main page like Drudge's and compete with his type of reporting. If Free Republic had a page that was a report site with links which is updated 24/7, it would become an alternative to Drudge's anti-Conservative propaganda.
Time to start boycotted both Drudge and Coulter. Any time Coulter is introduced as a voice for Conservatives, it needs to be shown to be a lie, that she doesn't represent Conservatives and needs to be introduced as an Independent Left leaning commentator.
Drudge’s bias is against Gov Perry too — anyone who is, has been, or will be a threat to Romney.
I’ve noted in the past how Santorum was the only one not to have his moment. But the dark side obscured to me that he would have it at the ideal time. (Newt’s rise caught me off guard). I did call the fall of Perry. This has been a mighty strange election so far.
Am I too old to train as a Jedi?
Fear in your heart there is. The way of the Jedi is not sought; find you it will.
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