Santorum Won’t Give Up on Himself

Member Group : Salena Zito

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Rick Santorum doesn’t care if other Republicans want him out of the party’s presidential race. He’s going nowhere yet, he said on Wednesday, despite losing primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Santorum began the day’s campaigning at a diner in Carnegie, once part of his former congressional district, before traveling here for an appearance at the Blair County Courthouse, where state Sen. John Eichelberger of Duncansville presented him boxing gloves to symbolize the fight ahead.

"We don’t like being told who to vote for and when it is time to close things down," Eichelberger said.

Santorum told reporters in Carnegie that he has endured eight months of listening to people tell him to quit.

"I’ve never been the establishment candidate, and that holds true ’til today," Santorum said.

His spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, said it’s disheartening when Republicans ask the former Penn Hills resident to leave the race. "He just tunes it out," she said.

State and national Republicans are suggesting Santorum bow out gracefully and allow former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to turn his attention toward the November challenge against President Obama. Romney won 86 delegates on Tuesday, pushing his total to 658 of the 1,144 needed to clinch the nomination. Santorum has 281 delegates.

Addressing newspaper publishers and editors in Washington yesterday, Romney accused Obama of running a hide-and-seek re-election campaign that assumes what the voters don’t know about his plans for missile defense, Medicare and more "won’t hurt him."

Romney called into question the president’s candor, because Obama was overheard telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week that he will have more flexibility in negotiating an arms treaty once he is re-elected.
"What exactly does President Obama intend to do differently once he is no longer accountable to the voters?" Romney asked.

He spoke one day after Obama delivered a scathing indictment of Republican economic policies. In reply, Romney said Obama "criticized policies no one is proposing. It’s one of his favorite strategies — setting up straw men to distract from his record."

Political strategists said party leaders have been talking to Santorum about exiting the race before the possibility of another embarrassing loss in Pennsylvania, whose voters in 2006 ended his 16 years in Congress. Sen. John McCain, the party’s nominee in 2008 who is campaigning for Romney, called Santorum "irrelevant" in an interview on CNN.

Others speculated about Romney’s possible choices for vice president. Two weeks ago, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told the Tribune-Review that a logical choice would be Florida freshman GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.

John Brabender, a senior Santorum strategist, said that there is "no chance" Santorum would drop out and that he plans to win over voters before the April 24 primary. Brabender acknowledged: "This is the must-win state."

Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason, who campaigned for Santorum in Cambria County six years ago, won’t get involved in this race, said his spokesman, Michael Barely. He said Gleason is not among those urging Santorum to quit.

Ron Rodgers of nearby Portage said he remains a "passionate" supporter of Santorum. He doesn’t think the former senator should suspend his campaign unless people stop giving him money or polling shows him sliding in his home state.

"While I don’t believe in polls, you also don’t want to see him get embarrassed," Rodgers said. "If it gets to that point, I am sure he will do the right thing and step aside."

At a sparsely attended event on Tuesday night in Cranberry, Santorum delivered a rambling speech that jumped from Pennsylvania frontier history to an attempt to frame the race as one that has not played all the way out and is only at halftime.

Santorum is ignoring reality, said Chris Borick, a political scientist at Muhlenberg College.

"So why is it he stays in at this point? He is not in the same game as Romney, and he knows it," Borick said. "If you are not fighting for the nomination, there have to be other factors that he is drawing on to stay in the race. Some of them might be personal, like redemption for his loss in 2006. He was belittled for that race, so maybe he wants to come back as a presidential candidate."

Lara Brown, a political strategist at Villanova University, said Santorum just doesn’t have it in him to make the decision to step aside.
"He is not that guy that walks away, even as he is losing, even with no path forward," she said.

At the courthouse here, sunshine and the Altoona High School jazz band drew workers outside. Among them were 10 women who watched Santorum greet people. They aren’t supporters, they said; they came out to enjoy the weather.

Salena Zito
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Political Reporter
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