(CNN) – As voters in Wisconsin, Maryland, and the District of Columbia prepare to cast ballots on Tuesday, Rick Santorum would not say in an interview on CNN's "John King, USA," if this is his last stand.
"My epitaph has been written many, many times throughout the course of this campaign," he said. "So I'm just going to take it a day at a time and we're going to keep working very, very hard and go out and articulate the principles that I think will win this election in the fall."
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Tuesday’s vote is seen as the next important milestone in this GOP race – as more and more uncommitted delegates become committed, Santorum will have fewer opportunities to win this race outright. But he told CNN's John King that his "plan is to take this – take this all the way."
He sustained his criticism of Mitt Romney, who leads on the delegate count, on health care, but saved his harshest critiques for President Barack Obama.
"He wants to take this money that's quote saved by or taxed on oil companies and redistribute to his friends in the green energy business," Santorum said of the president's energy initiatives and call for Congress to repeal tax subsidies which go to major oil companies. Senate Republicans blocked a related measure on Thursday.
"It is all part of President Obama's and the left's radical environmental ideology that is driving up electric cost, driving up oil cost and gasoline prices," Santorum continued.
He allowed that White House plans to implement previously announced sanctions on Iran are a "positive step in the right direction," but said the administration has "taken backward steps," too.
"He's agreed to negotiate with the Iranians, really outside of the conditions that have been set forth by the U.N. resolution, which has said that there should be no negotiations with Iran until they cease the enrichment of the – of the uranium," Santorum said of the president. "And the Obama administration has set aside those preconditions, allows Iran to continue to enrich uranium as they talk. This is exactly what the Iranians want, which is time. They're buying time."
Also see:
Kerry rallies democratic supporters by warning of 'swift boat' redux
Romney, Gingrich held private meeting
From CNN Politics
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Saturday? Try Tuesday...
Aren't these elections on Tuesday not Saturday?
Aren't these elections on Tuesday not Saturday? I can't believe this headline is on CNN's homepage.
Wisconsin does not vote on Saturday, at least get the basics right!
Oh, I think it'll be over before that, Ricky. You called Obama the N word. It's all over YouTube. That's not something an electorate forgets.
Is there any country Reverend Ricky would NOT attack? Is there any attack on his opponents he would NOT make? He really could give religion a bad name with his spitefulness. Is there anything that he actually does stand for besides cramming his version of morality down our throats?
Santorum has the intellect of a worm compared to Obama....can you see this man or Romney out on the world stage representing all the people of this country? Do people really belive either one is able to do anything other than say my way or we go to war!! Wake up average Joe and see it takes more than I'll beat you up if you don't do what I want.
Stick in there Rick. You are a better person than slick wicked Mitt anytime. Take him to the mat. Don't let him win. All th people that has endorsed him are his cronies. You, Newt and Paul should stay to the end. Mit may have the delegates but he doesn't have the people's support. Stay and hold your ground.
Oh Rick,
Going down faster than a speeding bullet?
Here's the thing goofball, don't tell single moms and dads they breed criminals, it really makes them MAD!
See what happens when you insult some of the hardest working people on earth?
Couldn't have happened to a bigger blow hard.
Say goodbye Rick.
The economy improved again. These GOBP wingnuts have nothing.
It would be nice if folks on the right woke up one day and realized that "redistribution" is not a dirty word. In fact, it describes most economic actions where goods or services change hands.
Santorum is itching to start another war. God help us if he is elected.
Translation: I'm going to get whupped in Wisconsin, and I'm not going to win the nomination, but I'm not going to quit yet because I want something big and I need to deliver a lot of supporters to get it.
Question, Rick: Can you get the Christian Taliban to donate and work for Romney even if he suddenly sounds moderate on abortion and contraception? Romney needs the independent voters and also needs the CT's. If Santorum can deliver the latter while Romney courts the former, he can get the VP slot or whatever he wants.
What issues are they saint rick , birth control???
Mr ed might as well quit,his extremest views will keep him from ever being elected to any goverment office, thank god.
Yeah, and donkeys fly, although in Newt's and Mitt's world they just might.
What? God no longer speaking to him? SHOCK.
Sorry, Ricky. Not enough narrow-minded, self-righteous racists in Tuesday's primaries for you to win.
Hi, my name is Rick the BIG BIG DICK Sanitarium Santorum and I want to be Pope of The United States (POTUS).
I will require that all future POTUS's wear backwards bluish-white collars as a sign of our heavenly unction from the father – Rush Limbaugh. We will force women to be pregnant their entire lives and make sure that all men have free access to Viagra for eternity.
If one of our wives, daughters, mothers or sisters is raped, they will be forced to give birth to that unholy fetus and declare in public and in writing that the rapist's baby is a gift from God.
Hi, my name is Ricky Santorum and I am speaking to you from my room at the sanitarium. Somehow, unbelievably, I have managed to convince women to like me even though when they are raped, as Pope of the United States (POTUS), I will force them to give birth to their unholy fetuses and make them say publically that the rapist's baby is a gift from God. Oh my God!! It really DOES sound crazy when I say it out loud to myself in my 10' X 10' padded cell in my straight jacket. Hold on a second, the nurses are here to give me my ‘cRaZy” pills. Ahhhh . . . . much better now. Ok, yeah, now where was I? Oh yeah, as I was saying, Vote for Me!!!!
Such a devout Christian Santorum is. How does he reconcile being a blatant liar at the same time? The only bigger liar, is the serial liar himself, Willard Romney, who sometimes contradicts himself in the same sentence.