JOHNSTON, IOWA — Rick Santorum still believes Iowa works the way it’s supposed to, despite all evidence to the contrary. And here in the outskirts of Des Moines Friday night, he explained why the polls are wrong and he’s about to surge to the front of the pack any minute now.
The reason? Cheese and a lack of bling.
Santorum stood in a small hotel ballroom with Matt Schultz, Iowa’s Secretary of State, who endorsed the former Pennsylvania senator Friday. Though the campaign billed the endorsement as a major announcement, there were signs it was coming for many months — Santorum campaigned for Schultz in 2010 and Schultz’ college age brother launched DraftSantorum.com way back in January 2011. Still, it was a rare endorsement from a statewide elected official in Iowa, and it’s yet another sign that Santorum is running the state right (according to the old rules) so far.
Sanotorum’s visited all 99 counties in Iowa, held endless events here and now picked up the endorsement from a popular elected Republican. And yet he’s an also-ran in every poll. Candidates who haven’t spent half the time in Iowa Santorum has have been pumped up by the media, he said. He dismissed the surges in the polls for the likes of Newt Gingrich and others. “Given what’s happened this year, we can probably have one or two more bubbles,” he said.
With Schultz at his side, Santorum said, it’s just a matter of time.
“A lot of people respect Matt and the decision he made here today,” Santorum said. “And we’re hoping that other people will do exactly what he asked, and that is take a good second look, or in some cases a first look.”
What they’ll find, he said, is exactly what voters here are hungry for.
“I’m confident that when they do, they’ll find one person who — maybe I’m not the flashiest person, I may be a little boring when it comes to, because I’m consistent,” he said. “My record isn’t swiss cheese. I mean it’s solid, it’s a solid block of cheese.”
Santorum insisted he’s just the kind of boring Iowa likes.
“I’ve been married 21 years, got seven kids. Go home to my wife and kids at night and, you know, coach little league. There’s not a lot of bling,” he said. “But we’re conservative, we’re consistent, we’ve led with principle, we’ve gotten things done and I’m fairly confident now that I’ve spent a lot of time in Iowa that’s what people want.”
