Santorum: Improving Economy Could Hurt GOP’s ‘Edge’ In The Election

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In an unusually candid admission, Rick Santorum said Saturday that the improving economy could conceivably hurt the Republican Party’s odds of victory in the 2012 elections.

Here’s what Santorum said last night — full quote via Memphis Newspaper, and part of it corroborated by ABC News.

“You hear now the media starting to say, oh well, looks like the economy is getting better,” Santorum told supporters Saturday night in Springfield, Mo., shortly after the Associated Press declared him the winner of the Kansas caucuses. “You know, the economy may be getting better and Republicans may lose their edge on that issue. Well, if that was the only issue in this race, that may or may not be the case, we don’t know.”

He added that “the point is that’s the point — we don’t know what the big issue of the day is going to be when it comes to national security. It may be the dominant issue, national security with Iran on the precipice of getting a nuclear weapon, Israel feeling increasingly isolated by this administration.”

The GOP has walked a fine line as the jobs picture has gradually improved in recent weeks and months, eager not to be seen as rooting for economic failure but equally desperate not to give President Obama any credit.

Notably, Santorum openly mulled the possibility Saturday that other issues could play a greater role come November.

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