Rick Santorum strategist John Brabender told National Review Online that an upcoming meeting between Santorum and Mitt Romney will be to talk about more than an endorsement but also to get to know each other.
“It’s about more than moving toward an endorsement,” Brabender said. “It’s also about helping Rick and Gov. Romney to get to know each other on a personal level. They’ve only talked in passing at the debates; they’ve never really gotten to know each other. Rick wants to sit down with Romney, one on one, and talk through some things.”
Brabender also noted that while Santorum is dedicated to defeating Obama, he also wants to make sure the base of the party is represented by Romney.
“Rick, as someone who garnered over 3 million votes and won 11 states, is someone who can share a lot with Romney about how to win over conservatives, tea-party voters, and blue-collar Republicans. He is going to want to know, first hand, how Romney expects to make that part of the party not only part of his campaign, but part of his administration, should he win the election.”
Only one topic has been ruled out:
“We’ve only taken one thing off of the table: talking about our campaign debt. Rick doesn’t want that to be a part of the discussion, in any way. For us, it’s an extremely manageable debt, and an endorsement, should it come, will be about policy and principles, not about a deal between the campaigns on the debt.”
