The deeply conservative former Pennsylvania senator is treading the 'Huckabee' route to nomination – but his beliefs may hold him back, writes PAUL HARRIS
THEY CALLED it the “Chuck wagon”. Rick Santorum spent so much time in his truck, being driven across Iowa by his strategist Chuck Laudner, that the pair frequently ate meals at the dashboard.
But after propelling its candidate to a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in Iowa’s Republican caucuses, the Chuck wagon has become a symbol of the old-fashioned, hardworking graft and street politics that has thrust Santorum (53) on to the national stage.
Santorum, a deeply socially conservative former senator from Pennsylvania, earned his success with an astonishing marathon of hand-shaking and gruelling public meetings across the state, largely beneath the media radar. As he held no elected office, he struggled throughout 2011 to gain traction in the polls and be taken seriously by pundits.
He bet everything on Iowa, spending more time in the state than any other candidate and holding more than 250 events. Even two weeks ago, it looked like a gamble unlikely to pay off. But, as caucus day approached, Santorum finally began to rise as the conservatives and evangelicals he had courted so strongly flocked to his side.
Now Santorum has a chance to carve out a niche where so many have failed and become the sole conservative alternative to frontrunner Mitt Romney.
“It is very difficult to do what Rick Santorum did. It is very impressive. There is no doubt about it,” said Pat Griffin, a political expert at St Anselm College in New Hampshire and a former adviser to a string of top Republican candidates, including George W Bush.
But now Santorum has finally persuaded the spotlight of the Republican race to shine on him, he has to be prepared for what it will find. What it reveals is one of the most socially conservative figures in the race who wears his Catholicism firmly on his sleeve. Santorum takes a hardline on issues such as gay marriage and abortion and has frequently courted controversy with the level of extremism that he is willing to express. It also makes him an odd man out in a race in which social issues have figured rarely in favour of a more widespread voter concern about job creation and the economy.
But social conservatism has been the most defining factor in Santorum’s political and personal life. He grew up in Butler, a gritty, working-class town in western Pennsylvania. His Italian immigrant father was a psychologist and his mother a nurse.
The Santorum household was strictly Catholic, which Santorum has replicated in his own family. Santorum was elected to Congress in 1990 aged just 32, being labelled among the "Gang of Seven" group of young outspoken congressman. Elected to the senate four years later, Santorum became a vibrant symbol of the power of the religious right and by 2005 was named by Timemagazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelists in America.
Santorum has raised doubts about the theory of evolution and wants a constitutional ban on gay marriage. He has called the scientific evidence behind global warming “junk” and “patently absurd”. He opposes abortion even in cases of rape. This talent for headline-grabbing rhetoric has been a feature of his Iowa campaign, but raises questions over his viability as a serious contender in a national election. Last week he accused the president of “unAmerican activities” – words reminiscent of the McCarthy witch-hunts of the 1950s.
But Santorum mixes such extreme views with a family-friendly persona that appeals to a wide chunk of Middle America. His trademark campaign knitwear – sleeveless vests that mark him out from more slick besuited politicians – have become the subject of much online mockery .
Yet Santorum’s personal life has also been marked by tragedy. One of his children, Gabriel Michael, died in 1996 shortly after birth. Another child, Isabella, was born in 2008 with a rare genetic disease that is expected to dramatically shorten her life.
Nor has his political life been smooth. Santorum’s Senate career dramatically hit the skids in 2006 when he was unexpectedly ejected from office by voters after two terms. Many assumed his career was over. That attitude continued, despite his announcement of a bid for the 2012 Republican nomination, pretty much up the start of his sudden rise in the polls just a few weeks ago.
However, there is precedent. In 2008 former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won Iowa on the back of a wave of evangelical and socially conservative support. Huckabee, a charming guitar-playing ordained Baptist minister, also appeared to come out of nowhere.
“[Santorum is] more Huckabee than Huckabee,” says Griffin. “Santorum is actually far more appealing to true social conservatives”. Which could also be a problem. New Hampshire, with its motto of “live free or die”, is a state where the religious right holds little power.
Huckabee’s campaign failed to make any impact in New Hampshire in 2008. It will be similarly hard for Santorum to gain traction in the state by emphasising his core beliefs. At the same time the media, and bruised campaign rivals, are likely to launch attacks against him. – (Guardian service)