BACK IN IOWA: Nobody’s Number Two

Former Republican presidential candidate and 2012 Iowa Caucus winner Rick Santorum stood in a room in a Tiffon conference center Tuesday as no one’s number two.

About 75 former supporters warmly greeted Santorum as he walked table to table as part of a thank you tour. Some still seem to struggle with Mitt Romney as the party’s nominee. Maribeth Green, of Davenport, back Santorum’s winning caucus campaign. She is disappointed Romney isn’t taking Santorum as his running mate. When asked whether she would rather see Barack Obama re-elected as president, so she doesn’t have to wait potentially 8 more years for Santorum to run again (if Romney wins and then runs for re-election), Green responded, “Oh boy, you’re going to really make me think here. Um, I think I just have to go back to…he’s (Santorum) one of us and he’s rooting for us and he’s saying all the things we want to say.”

Santorum said he was committed to making sure Obama didn’t get re-elected. Why hasn’t Romney vetted Santorum as a possible running mate? Santorum responded, “Oh, I don’t know. I suspect I was pretty well vetted over the course of the campaign. I don’t think there’s a lot of vetting what needs to be done for Rick Santorum. I think they know me pretty well and don’t have to do a whole lot.” 

So is he bothered by Romney  not vetting him? Santorum said, “I’m not concerned about it.”

Santorum now heads “Patriot Voices”, an organization giving him a national voice in politics and also allowing him to keep up his visibility. He said he plans to release a new book in August and a documentary in October. While in Iowa, he also headlined events for Ben Lange, a Republican congressional candidate for Iowa’s 1st District, and John Archer, a Republican congressional candidate for Iowa’s 2nd District.