Thomas Fitzgerald, a Philadelphia Inquirer scribe who has followed Rick Santorum for years, follows the former senator to Iowa. Since 2009, Santorum has made 12 trips to the Hawkeye State, more than any other GOP presidential contender.
Santorum said in an interview that his Iowa reception encouraged him.
“People are still very much looking,” he said. “One guy came up to me and said, ‘You’re on our list. You haven’t been eliminated.’ I hear a lot of that.”
Anything can happen, he noted. During the trip, for example, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour announced he would not run for the nomination because he could not make it the “singular focus” of his life.
“Do I want to do this?” Santorum asked. “I’m certainly not going to sacrifice the world for it.” But he said he did not agree with Barbour’s description of a presidential campaign as all-encompassing.
“I’m married, and we’ve got seven kids,” Santorum said. “They’re going to take time and attention, too, and I’m going to give it to them. I would think you’d want somebody in public life who has some life outside of just working 24/7, somebody who has real-world interactions and responsibilities.”
He said he would decide within weeks whether to run.
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