Republican 2024 hopefuls have been seeking advice from Rick Santorum, the ‘patron saint of longshot wins,’ who came from nowhere to triumph in Iowa in 2012
Republican presidential candidates are contacting former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to ask him how he achieved his 2012 Iowa caucus victory.
Politico reported this on Thursday on Santorum's new relevance, with the former lawmaker revealing that at least two campaigns have sought his advice in recent weeks.
He declined to name them, but advisers to entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Vice President Mike Pence publicly mentioned Santorum before he dropped out of the race.
“I'm the patron saint of all these guys looking for a long win, which is great,” Santorum said.
The current Real Clear Politics polling average former President Donald Trump has a 28.6 percent lead over second-place Iowans, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum became the unexpected winner of the 2012 Iowa caucuses, in a political moment that 2024 GOP hopefuls hope to emulate despite trailing former President Donald Trump by about 30 points
Santorum said in a recent interview that he accomplished the feat by driving across the state and attending 385 town halls and speeches. His conservative political style played well with Iowa's right-wing voters. Santorum is photographed at a 2022 CPAC event
Of the top candidates, DeSantis has focused most on Iowa.
He has the most to gain — and lose — from his Jan. 15 caucus appearance.
Florida's governor visited all 99 Iowa counties and received the coveted endorsement of the Hawkeye State's popular governor, Kim Reynolds.
He was also endorsed by Bob Vander Plaats, a prominent evangelical leader in the state.
But Nikki Haley, who is averaging 15.7 percent support from Iowa's likely voters to DeSantis' 18.7 percent, also has a lot to gain from a better-than-expected caucus outcome, as she has overtaken Florida's governor in New Hampshire . where the country's first Republican primaries will take place on January 23.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has focused almost all of his attention on New Hampshire, where undeclared voters are allowed to participate.
Ramaswamy is performing better in the Iowa polls than Christie, with an average of 5 percent of potential voters backing him, compared to just 3.7 percent for the ex-New Jersey governor.
At least two campaigns have asked Santorum for advice, but he would not reveal which ones. (From left) former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former UN Ambassador. Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy during the fourth debate
Santorum was expelled from Congress in 2006, with Pennsylvania voters rejecting moderate Democrat – and son of former governor – Bob Casey Jr. by about 18 points.
It was one of the first GOP casualties of the night, ultimately leading to both the House of Representatives and Senate turning blue.
Santorum then joined the crowd of 2012 Republican candidates who tried to stop Democratic President Barack Obama from seeking a second term.
His conservative credentials played well in Iowa, where he narrowly defeated Mitt Romney, the eventual nominee, and former Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-friendly candidate.
He did that, he recalled to Politico, through old-fashioned retail politics.
“The story you never told, and I don't think you have any interest in telling — you certainly didn't tell it then — was a man who lost his Senate race by 18 percent six years before the caucus and went to Iowa. He rented a truck and a car all by himself and campaigned across the state. He spent less than a million dollars the entire campaign and won the Iowa caucuses,” Santorum said. “Honestly, if I were a Democrat, I'd be a hero in national politics. But because I am who I am, no one ever knows.”
Santorum held 385 town halls and speeches across the state and drove around in a silver 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup nicknamed “Chuck Truck” after his Iowa aide Chuck Laudner.
Santorum's victory was partially nullified because the outcome was not entirely clear that evening.
And it was even more obscured by the fact that he didn't win the GOP nomination.
At least one of Politico's sources doubted whether Santorum's efforts could be repeated with the same results in the modern era, where Trump dominates.
“That was at a time when we were all subscribing to this lane theory in politics, which Trump has kind of abandoned,” David Kochel, a veteran of several presidential campaigns in Iowa, told the news site.
Kochel said the primaries now “are about personality and celebrity. He is the axis around which voters determine who they are.'
Santorum himself tried to recapture that magic in 2016 — but earned just 1,783 votes statewide — with conservative Sen. Ted Cruz winning the caucuses and Trump coming in second.