Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum today picked up the endorsement of Cedar Falls Tea Party activist Judd Saul, who launched a text-message video blast in support of the GOP presidential candidate.
Shortly after noon today, registered Iowa Republicans began receiving links to the 3-minute satirical video on their cell phones.
“The Tea Party movement started with Chicago’s famous ‘Santelli Rant,’” said Saul, who helped found the Cedar Valley Tea Party and is also a leader in the Black Hawk Republican Party. “It’s time for us to launch a ‘Santorum Rant’ against Rick’s nasty Chicago detractors.”
The punk-rock video, “Who Hates Rick Santorum?” makes light of criticisms of Santorum, including his 2003 remarks to the Associated Press which equated homosexuality to bestiality and drew the ire of Democratic politicians, gay rights advocates and sex columnist Dan Savage.
Saul said Santorum, often viewed as a dark horse candidate for his single-digit standing in the polls, offers the best chance of defeating President Barack Obama in a general election. He also warned against voting for current GOP front-runner Newt Gingrich.
“Gingrich has refused to sign all pledges against same-sex marriage, while Rick Santorum, on the other hand, is a lot more like Ronald Reagan, a strong social, defense, and economic conservative,” Saul said. “He’s the candidate who best fits our tea party values.”
Saul said he hopes his video campaign will be as popular as an anti-Gingrich web clip shared last week that came from the same filmmaker. “Newt: The GOP’s Kim Kardashian,” also text-messaged to Iowa voters, has garnered more than 30,000 YouTube views so far.
Hannah Hess covers government and politics for IowaPolitics.com, which is owned by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Policy.
