Santorum makes conservative pitch in Nevada
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke for nearly an hour late Tuesday afternoon to a largely tea party crowd of about 100 near Lake Mead and Jones boulevards. The senator pitched to Nevadans that he is the most conservative candidate in the race.
"It's not just about jobs. It's not just about the economy," said Santorum, the first candidate to speak in Nevada in the days leading up to the state's Republican presidential caucuses.
Santorum said he has his work cut out for him in Nevada. A lack of momentum from the Florida primary, where he did not compete, doesn't help.
"I understand this is a tough place to go," he said, adding, "We're here and we're competing."
Santorum spoke in an alley behind a strip mall that houses the headquarters of TRUNC -- Tea Party and Republicans Uniting Nevada Conservatives.
"I've always believed that the tea party is the backbone of the Republican party," Santorum told the crowd.
The former senator said he was the most conservative candidate in the race, and that he was the only candidate who has always been against the three key issues that have energized the tea party movement: the Wall Street bailouts, cap and trade regulations and Obama's health care reform.
Most of the crowd at the TRUNC offices didn't seem to have decided for whom to vote, but many said Santorum was a nice change from the ugly sparring between Gingrich and Romney.
Darwin Rockantansky, 65, is a member of the Sons of Liberty, a conservative group of motorcycle riders.
"The nastier it gets, the more it turns me off," he said. "I think many of us are going to wait until we're in the booth (to decide)."
Bob Potempa, 65, who has been a Santorum supporter since the beginning of the race, said, "The more they're beating each other up, the less I'm interested."
The former senator later spoke briefly, shook hands and signed autographs at his party headquarters in a strip mall on West Charleston Boulevard at Durango Drive. He is scheduled to campaign in Colorado on Wednesday before returning to Nevada.
His supporters on Tuesday cited his conservatism as the former senator's biggest asset, but some doubted how well he would do Saturday.
"Probably not very good, to be honest with you," said Brian Liebzeit, 36.
Romney easily won Nevada four years ago.
Contact Reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com.
