Santorum says Iowa Bachmann and Perry supporters are reaching out
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum indicated Tuesday that his Iowa campaign is getting a boost from activists that are no longer certain they should be supporting other 2012 candidates like U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Santorum told ABC News that his campaign has been in talks with “key people” within the Bachmann campaign — not paid staffers, but grassroots activists that “are in the conversations with us and see things not going well for her.”
“„“There’s no question that doubts have been raised about Michele [Bachmann] and her electability, and certainly we clearly benefit from that,” Santorum said. “We are picking up people, not just [Tim] Pawlenty people in Iowa, but also folks who had supported Bachmann and we know that folks, even some of her key people are coming to talk to us, let’s put it that way.”
Santorum continues to characterize his campaign as “the little engine that could,” but has also begun to strategize around the turtle and the hair: slow and steady wins the race. That’s his Iowa strategy, he said, to just keep slowly and steadily moving forward in the Hawkeye State.
As more concerns arise among activists relating to Bachmann and Perry — especially following the Texas governor’s less than stellar debate performances — Santorum plans to be there and welcome those individuals into his own campaign.
Santorum’s communications director, Hogan Gidley, said that when those activists find a resting spot within the Santorum campaign, they tend to stay.
“The people who are for Rick Santorum, it’s not soft support,” he said. “The crowds I see in Iowa and I see in South Carolina, it’s not soft support. It’s not a flash in the pan candidacy.”
