If former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., runs for president — he is set to announce his intentions May 27 in Pittsburgh — he will face a tougher task than in 2012 when he won the Iowa caucuses.
Some Republicans think if Santorum enters the race he will only manage to divide social conservative voters. Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist who worked for the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008, said Santorum’s entrance will be good news for “establishment folks” like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is courting more moderate Republicans.
“He’s [Santorum] got to understand that this isn’t 2012 and he isn’t competing against the B-team,” O’Connell said. “He’s really a poor man’s Mike Huckabee, in the sense that he does very well with social conservatives and he does very well with the white working class who make under 65K. The problem is there are a lot of people competing in that arena.”
Other Republicans running for president, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, would challenge Santorum for socially conservative voters. Some evangelicals are yearning for a fresh face. Santorum has lost the support of some in his own camp. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the socially conservative parents who starred on TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting,” supported Santorum in 2012 but have already pledged their support to Huckabee in 2016.
Santorum discussed his presidential aspirations on Fox News on Wednesday night, telling Greta Van Susteren that he was not worried that Huckabee gained the support of the Duggars, who, like the ex-governor, hail from Arkansas.
“It was a great campaign last time; we were clearly the underdog, and we’re starting out looking at this race and we’d be in the same position,” Santorum said. “We’re very comfortable there.”
But some his former supporters have already begun to look elsewhere. Joe Carter, a senior editor at the Acton Institute who worked for Santorum in 2012, thinks the senator is unlikely to come close to his 2012 success.
“I think this time around Santorum’s going to be completely ignored,” Carter said. “His social conservatism is shared by a number of other candidates.”
When Van Susteren asked Santorum whether he intended to focus on social issues just as he had in the past, Santorum avoided directly answering the question and began talking about American manufacturing. Even if Santorum strikes a different tone, he may struggle against newer candidates. In Quinnipiac’s poll of Iowa Republican voters released earlier this week, Santorum registered just 2 percent support.
