DES MOINES, IOWA — Despite spending more time in Iowa than any other Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum just can’t seem to win over enough Hawkeye State voters.
The perpetual underdog has shaken more hands, held more town halls, and led more prayer breakfasts in Iowa than even Michele Bachmann, an Iowa native, and yet Santorum still has barely enough support to keep his place at the Republican presidential debates.
He’s the only candidate who vowed to visit each of the state’s 99 counties before its first-in-the-nation caucuses on Jan. 3, yet Santorum garnered only 2 percent of the vote in a recent CNN/Time poll of registered Republican voters in Iowa.
Longtime political insiders in Iowa are puzzled by Santorum’s lack of momentum, considering the traditional importance that retail politicking has held in the state.
“Santorum has basically lived here,” said Dennis J. Goldford, a Drake University political science professor and author of the book, “The Iowa Precinct Caucuses: The Making of a Media Event.”
“I have watched Santorum just wrap a room, put a whole room of evangelicals in his hand,” Goldford said, recalling Santorum captivating a group of Iowa voters with the story of how he spent a night holding the body of his baby, who died during birth. “I have watched him work that room and you could hear a pin drop,” Goldford said.
Evangelical voters, a key voting bloc for Santorum, accounted for nearly 60 percent of the votes in the 2008 caucuses.
“Rick Santorum is doing what it takes to gain supporters here and as a result I think he could surprise some people on caucus night,” said Tim Albrecht, spokesman for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
Santorum has held 166 events in Iowa over the course of 63 days, roughly twice the time that rival Bachmann has invested in the state. And yet Bachmann’s support in the polls is triple that of Santorum.
Even if Santorum shatters all expectations on caucus night, it’s unlikely his campaign will have the money to stay alive past the New Hampshire primary.
But Santorum promises he won’t go down easy.
“Many have said to me that I should skip New Hampshire because the state does not ‘match-up’ with my brand of conservatism,” Santorum said after announcing his 83 New Hampshire campaign organizers. “Today’s announcement proves the naysayers wrong, because New Hampshire Republicans are looking for a candidate who is committed to their state, who speaks from the heart, and speaks the truth about the challenges facing our nation.”
