A crowd gathers for Republican presidential candidate, and former U.S. Senator, Rick Santorum’s formally declaring his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination during an announcement event in Cabot, Pennsylvania, May 27, 2015. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., kicked off his second campaign for president Wednesday railing against “big government” and “big money.” Santorum, speaking in front of factory workers at a business located near his western Pennsylvania hometown, pledged to bring back American manufacturing jobs and look out for the working class.
Holding up a piece of coal in one hand and an American flag in the other, the 2012 second-place finisher promised if elected to get rid of Obama’s executive orders, regulations that are killing Americans jobs, dismantle the “corrupt federal tax code” and the IRS.
Santorum is no doubt hoping that GOP history repeats itself. Republican nomination historically would dictate that Santorum’s entrance into the 2016 presidential race would mark the entrance of the frontrunner to the race for the nomination. However, this is not a historically analogous cycle, and even the candidate admits he is a heavy underdog in a far more crowded and talented field.
He beat out eventual 2012 nominee Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses and won 11 state races during the primaries, but the bloc of voters he will be vying for will be courted by a larger number of candidates this time around.
As of Wednesday, the PPD average of polls showed him ranking 10th, which is just enough to make the cut in the first debate hosted by FOX News and a spot on the top-tier debate on CNN. Yet, he is behind other social conservatives that will also be chasing the voters that supported Santorum last time, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson, both declared candidates.
Santorum is now the seventh candidate to have formally announced, and attempted to position himself as the working-class candidate.
“Working families don’t need another president tied to big government or big money.”
Santorum argued his experience will set him apart, and that he isn’t worried about his underdog status.
“This is a long process,” Santorum told reporters. “One of the things that I feel very comfortable with — I’ve been through this process before. It’s a completely wide open race.”
Santorum served in the Senate from 1995 to 2007 before he was defeated in the Democratic midterm landslide by roughly 16 points. But the former senator has been the underdog before, and not just in the 2012 GOP nomination. In 1990, Santorum was a long-shot candidate for a House seat that he won against seven-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Doug Walgren.
And he does have the record on corruption he claimed in his speech Wednesday. As a member of the “Gang of Seven,” the new lawmaker made headlines by going after House Democrats as well as focusing on the House banking scandal.
Santorum also won election to the U.S. Senate in 1994 at age 36, winning statewide in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly 1 million voters.
Still, at least three other Republicans, all of which are at risk of not qualifying for the first GOP debate, are also expected to formally announce their White House campaign plans in the next two weeks. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is at risk of losing all of the local and state talent to declared candidate Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former New York Gov. George Pataki are also badly trailing in the polls.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is also expected to enter the race this weekend before heading to Iowa and New Hampshire to draw voters away from declared Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
