Rick Santorum Tries To Stand Out In Crowded GOP Field
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum wants to be your next president, but he's up against a lot of competition.
Santorum recently sat down with Stacy Smith for an exclusive interview.
Right now he says it's a matter of survival.
"Iowa caucuses are not till February, so you've got to raise the money and you've got to keep your profile, you've gotta be able to build your organization," he said.
But Santorum is not the only one who is trying to build momentum heading into February. In fact, national polls show him behind some of the other candidates.
"The national polls don't matter. What matters is Iowa. They're the first state. They get a chance to narrow the field."
And that field is crowded at the moment. KDKA's Stacy Smith asked him what he thought about some of the other candidates, like Congresswoman Michelle Bachman.
"Michelle has some very good ideas and principles, but the difference between Michelle Bachman and I as I said in the debate, leadership versus showmanship," he said.
"Really, she doesn't have any track record of bringing people together to get things done and ultimately that's what a president has to do, lead."
Stacy Smith: "Mitt Romney?"
Santorum: "He's just wrong on the most important issue that is going to be in this election and that is whether government should be controlling things from the top down or we should have free people controlling things from the bottom up."
Smith: "Rick Perry?"
Santorum: "Jury's still out. I mean, there's a lot of things about Rick Perry that, that his record in Texas that people say he created more jobs and all that kind of stuff. He's also a governor who proposed a bi-national health care system."
But Santorum saves his harshest criticism for the man he wants to challenge a year from now, President Obama.
"He's been a disaster for this country, economically, just an absolute disaster. I mean his programs to basically take over the health care system, take over the banking system, take over the automotive industry, take over the insurance industry. It's just, I mean, and he's destroying the country."
Santorum has taken residency in Virginia for voting purposes, but says he is running for president as a candidate from Pennsylvania.
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