Rick Santorum deviated from the party line this weekend when he suggested that an improving economy could damage Republicans’ chances in November. Santorum, whose campaign has helped bring social issues to the fore this year, let slip Saturday that the economy might not be a winning issue — or even the main issue during the election.
“You hear now the media starting to say, oh well, looks like the economy is getting better,” Santorum told supporters in Missouri Saturday night after winning 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.”
The comment distinguishes Santorum from rival Mitt Romney, who has made the economy the central issue of his campaign. Santorum may be looking to carve out areas other than the economy where he can appeal to voters more than Romney. Apart from social and religious issues, that animate Santorum but which he’s lately tried to steer clear of, the other area could be foreign policy.
The former senator is vocal and passionate about Israel and the Middle East, and he indicated over the weekend that turmoil in the region might become a big issue in the election. “People say, ‘Well what’s gonna be the most important, oh jobs, jobs, jobs.’ Well maybe not,” Santorum said at a separate event Saturday. “We’ve got a country in the Middle East that’s about, potentially about to explode a nuclear weapon, which would change the face of our Earth.”
In a direct hit at Romney’s message, Santorum added: “We have candidates running around saying they want to run for CEO of America. I’m running to be the commander in chief for America.”
In a sign that Santorum’s comments were too revealing for comfort, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham took issue with them Sunday. “I don’t think he’s right at all,” Graham said on ABC’s This Week. “This is an anemic recovery after a pretty long recession.” Santorum’s comments fly in the face of what the Republican Party overall has pinned their reelection message on thus far: a poor economy and high unemployment they can yoke to President Obama. Graham echoed the common GOP line that the President’s policies are hurting the recovery.
Santorum’s comments come a day after news that the economy added 227,000 jobs in February and that the unemployment rate remained at 8.3%. Obama campaign advisor Robert Gibbs pointed out Sunday that this makes February the 24th straight month in which jobs have been added to the economy, bringing the total number of jobs created in the last two years to 3.9 million.
Political observers have remarked for a while now that the biggest factor in determining the outcome in November will be the economy, and it won’t serve Republicans to give away the game up front and admit that Obama is presiding over a recovery. While Santorum’s remarks might make sense as a strategy against Romney, they’re an unsettling reminder to the Republican Party that if the economy continues to improve, they may need to start thinking about a plan B.
