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Dobson to Santorum: 'We need you in the Oval Office'
February 01, 2012 10:32 PM
JOHN SCHROYER
THE GAZETTE
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum commands a lot of respect in the Pikes Peak region.
And that support was hammered home Wednesday evening when Focus on the Family’s founder, Dr. James Dobson, made a surprise appearance at a Santorum rally to announce his endorsement.
“I’ve been watching you,” Dobson said to Santorum, with a quiet smile on his face. “We need you in the Oval Office.”
Santorum grinned broadly, and the thousand people at the rally stood and cheered.
And the senator told them solemnly, “God called me to do this.”
Photo gallery: Santorum visits the Pikes Peak region
The event was Santorum’s second in the Pikes Peak region on Wednesday, during a campaign swing through Colorado. He stopped first in Woodland Park, where supporters filled the Ute Pass Cultural Center to capacity. So many people showed up that organizers worried about violating the fire code, and the campaign moved its evening rally to Mr. Biggs Family Fun Center, which had a much more room than the original location.
Santorum preached to his rooms, covering such topics as health care and the Federal Reserve. He said in the evening that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, is the sole reason he decided to run for president.
Santorum said Obamacare had created a “phony economy,” and that it created the basis for the government to take over everyone’s lives.
He switched gears a bit in the second talk and spent much of his time on family values, before he introduced Dobson. He hinted at the partisan issue of gay marriage and said he would ban stem cell research.
“We cannot have a strong economy unless the first economy is strong. The home is the first economy.”
The senator slammed his top two opponents, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, as hypocrites and fake conservatives.
Romney, he said, paved the way for Obamacare with the health care plan he built in Massachusetts, and Gingrich, he said, supported the concept for 20 years before the 2012 election cycle.
It was Dobson, however, who really summed up Santorum’s position.
“It would appear to me that Gov. Romney is not a conservative. And Newt Gingrich, well, I don’t know what he is,” Dobson said as the crowd laughed.
Another of Santorum’s controversial stances came up twice — the senator called global warming a “hoax,” and said Democrats had used it as a tool to brainwash much of the public into believing it.
Supporters at both events said they loved what Santorum had to say, and many happily believe he has a good chance at winning both the GOP primary and the general election.
“He’s the most electable of the Republicans,” said Tara, an attendee at the evening event who declined to give her last name. She said Romney and Gingrich have too much personal and political baggage to defeat Obama.
Other supporters, however, said they think Santorum is a serious underdog.
“It’s drawing to an inside straight, but I think he has a shot,” said media consultant Jeff Woods.
Many don’t care what his chances are — they just like him for who he is.
“I don’t know if he drinks, but I’d like to go have a beer with him,” said college student Matt Stone, who volunteered Wednesday to help Santorum’s campaign.
Santorum insisted that he’s a viable candidate in the national election, despite pundits who contend he’s too far to the right to win independent voters. He channeled Ronald Reagan, and said nobody took him seriously in 1980. But Reagan pulled it off, he said, because “he had a vision.”
“The people didn’t jump for who could win. They jumped for who needed to win,” he said.
The election, he said, is in their hands, and they have a sacred duty to win it.
“You will be dishonored if we lose this election,” he told his audience.
Whatever happens, Santorum isn’t going anywhere.
He pledged to his audience, “I’m in this ‘til the very end.”
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