ABC News reported this morning that, according to “multiple” anonymous sources, prominent Iowa social conservative Bob Vander Plaats “was soliciting as much as $1 million from Santorum and other [Republican presidential] candidates” while he was considering endorsing one of them. In a phone interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD this afternoon, Vander Plaats said he “absolutely” denied the allegations.
“The Family Leader is not benefiting as an organization from this, one iota or red cent, and Bob Vander Plaats or Chuck Hurley is not benefiting this one red cent,” said Vander Plaats, the 2008 chairman of Mike Huckabee’s campaign and head of a conservative group called the Family Leader. “If we were really going ‘Boy, who’s got the most money? We probably wouldn’t go for Rick Santorum. We believe he’s the best candidate.”
