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Long-shot Santorum seeks support in South Carolina
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Rick Santorum (shown here in Pittsburgh last month) is winning goodwill with his time and money in South Carolina.
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AIKEN, S.C. -- As a couple dozen locals chewed on sandwiches and gulped sweet tea Friday afternoon, Rick Santorum spoke of how charmed his wife and daughter were by the city of Greenville, site of the previous night's debate.
"Wait till you get to the small towns of South Carolina," he recounted telling his family. "They're even nicer."
Mr. Santorum, who served two terms as U.S. senator from Penn Hills and is now exploring a presidential run, knows the land of palmettos and mustard-based barbecue from experience. Last week's visit was his 15th to the state, a series of treks that began long before other candidates started arriving early this year.
Mr. Santorum started pondering a run in late 2009, when he was invited to speak in Iowa. It was too early for serious talk about a presidential campaign, but Mr. Santorum began to build an infrastructure by endorsing and raising money for local candidates in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He built a network he could tap into now that he is almost certainly running -- he formed an exploratory committee last week and participated in the first presidential primary debate Thursday.
None of the candidates he campaigned for in South Carolina has offered a formal endorsement, but the former senator bought plenty of goodwill with his time and money.
"Social conservatives think a lot of Rick Santorum, so when he spoke well of me that meant a lot," said Curtis Loftis, who won an insurgent campaign for state treasurer last year, defeating a Republican incumbent in a primary.
"I'm nowhere near endorsing anybody, but I consider him a friend now and look forward to seeing him, that kind of thing. I guess I'm withholding judgment now because it's so early."
The same can be said of Peter McCoy, a freshman state House member from Charleston, whom Mr. Santorum helped with a breakfast fundraiser in September. The day before, Mr. Santorum, Mr. McCoy and his campaign manager Michael Mulé had coffee, and the young candidate saw himself in the tale of Mr. Santorum's first U.S. House campaign in 1990 -- a newlywed riding an anti-establishment run to victory. Mr. Santorum called Mr. McCoy on election night to offer his congratulations.
Still, Mr. Mulé said Mr. McCoy is waiting to meet all the candidates before making an endorsement.
Mr. Santorum appeared on behalf of several other candidates across South Carolina who won their races, from Attorney General Alan Wilson to U.S. Reps. Trey Gowdy and Tim Scott. But he placed the biggest bet on a losing horse, appearing eight times for Gresham Barrett, a U.S. House member who was the early leader in the GOP race for governor until upstart Nikki Haley charged in and triumphed.
Mr. Barrett, now consulting for nuclear energy firms, hasn't officially endorsed Mr. Santorum either, but he has helped his former teammate on the Congressional baseball team get plugged into the state's political network. Mr. Barrett introduced Mr. Santorum to several of the state's "movers and shakers" -- whom he declined to identify.
"I would say by far that he has worked the state the hardest, and from what I can tell is going to continue to work the state very hard," Mr. Barrett said. "And I can't help but believe that at the end of the day that will help make a difference."
Mr. Barrett, who earned the endorsement of the state Chamber of Commerce by an overwhelming vote in the gubernatorial primary, is closely identified with the South Carolina business community.
Barry Wynn, a former director of the state Republican Party who is closely allied with influential U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, said the Chamber of Commerce crowd is one of three key GOP primary voting blocs in the state. The other two: "country club Republicans," primarily Northern transplants living near the coastline, and the anti-abortion crowd.
The latter group remembers Mr. Santorum's outspokenness during a Senate career that included leading the fight to ban partial-birth abortion. Mr. Santorum, who speaks often of his Catholic faith and seven children, has a strong social conservative following and is in frequent contact with South Carolina leaders in the movement -- but, they, like everyone else, are waiting before issuing an endorsement.
Alexia Newman, who runs a crisis pregnancy center in Spartanburg and is active in pro-life politics, said she's spoken to Mr. Santorum a few times but didn't feel as though she was getting a pitch.
"I wouldn't say he courted me; I don't think that's what he does," she said. "I think he puts it out there that, 'This is what I stand for. This is what I believe. If you agree with it, great. If not, I'm not changing it to make you like me,' which to me is character."
Mr. Santorum met Lisa Van Riper, president of South Carolina Citizens for Life, at an anti-abortion rally at the state capitol in January, and she told him to give her a call if he wanted to stop by her Greenville home for a meal. They dined on spaghetti Wednesday night.
"I saw a man who had absolutely been through the trenches and just had held onto his core values, understood the moral dimension on the financial mess we're in -- I mean greed is a problem," Ms. Van Riper said. "And I just thought this is a person I would truly like to get to know better."
In addition to his frequent jaunts through South Carolina, Mr. Santorum has focused as much or more attention on Iowa and New Hampshire -- but his potential rivals are frequent visitors to those states as well. Mr. Santorum's work in South Carolina so far puts him in a smaller crowd. Republican politicians and activists cited visits and conversations with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Michele Bachmann -- and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, before he decided not to run -- but the state has been mostly an afterthought so far for top potential contenders.
Mitt Romney decided to skip Thursday's debate, and the rest of the field -- from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to billionaire Donald Trump -- hadn't made up their minds yet on a run to meet the filing deadline to participate.
They ignore state No. 3 at their peril: South Carolina has correctly picked the Republican nominee in its primary every four years since 1980. But early inroads don't necessarily lead to electoral success, and voting results in Iowa and New Hampshire can sway who South Carolinians think is most electable -- a key refrain in this race when Republicans are looking to take on an incumbent president.
"I want a conservative candidate I think can win," said David Wilkins, a former state House Speaker who co-chaired George W. Bush's 2000 primary campaign in South Carolina and has met with Mr. Santorum. "I think most Republicans feel that way."
Mr. Wynn managed Rudy Giuliani's campaign in 2008 and recalled that the former New York City mayor raised a boatload of money in South Carolina and was ahead in the polls there -- until he lost momentum by not campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, and John McCain stole away many of Mr. Giuliani's former supporters.
Mr. Wynn said Mr. Santorum is the most likely second-tier candidate to rise to a contender in South Carolina, but that could be negated in an instant if Mr. Huckabee -- the runner up here in 2008 -- gets in the race and steals away the social conservative vote.
In addition, voters' top concern is the economy, and the rise of the tea party has focused the discussion on the debt. Mr. Santorum can sing those notes, but his record isn't the same as those of budget-balancing governors who are considering a run.
Last month, Mr. Santorum arrived early at the Greenville County Republican Party convention, one of the biggest and most socially conservative county GOPs in the state, to work the room. Mr. Barbour and Mr. Gingrich were there, too, Ms. Van Riper recalled, and Mr. Gingrich was greeted like a rock star -- surrounded by photograph-seekers wherever he went. Mr. Santorum stood inconspicuously in the back.
Ms. Van Riper said Mr. Barbour led off with a speech heavy on humor, Mr. Gingrich followed with a wonky discussion of issues, then Mr. Santorum stole the show. Ms. Van Riper was captivated by how he took the policies articulated by the previous speakers and "raised it to a vision" of America. He won the convention presidential straw poll with ease.
"I think until that moment he was a nice guy coming into a convention that people respected," Ms. Van Riper said. "I think when he walked out he was a contender."
First Published May 8, 2011 12:00 am
