June 12th, 2012
07:22 PM ET
11 years ago

Santorum sticks by mild praise for Romney

(CNN) – Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum stood by his tepid endorsement of former rival Mitt Romney on Tuesday, saying he supported the presumptive GOP nominee but would still try to hold his "feet to the fire."

"Well, I trust him more than Barack Obama," Santorum said on CNN's "John King, USA," when asked if he trusted Romney.

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The former Pennsylvania senator last week announced he was forming Patriot Voices, a non-profit group that he says aims to help elect conservative politicians, including Romney, and make sure they're held accountable for their campaign promises.

Santorum said he supports "most of the tenants of" Romney's platform, but added his biggest concern was the health care bill Romney signed into law as Massachusetts governor–a plan that Santorum heavily attacked during the Republican primary earlier this year.

Santorum added, however, he believes Romney would work to repeal the federal health care law if he makes it to the White House.

Asked by CNN Chief National Correspondent John King who Romney should choose as a running mate, Santorum said he wasn't the best person to offer advice.

"The last thing I'm going to do is advise the person who vanquished me, if you will," Santorum said. "He did a pretty good job in winning the race and making decisions. I'm not going to be out there as a former foe making recommendations as to who he should pick."

And on the same day a new poll indicated Obama has a six percentage point edge over Romney in Pennsylvania, the former senator argued he thinks the Keystone State will be up for grabs by November.

"Barack Obama is not energy friendly. That's not going to play well in major parts of our state, and I think that's one of the reasons it will stay in play," he said.

CNN's electoral map puts Pennsylvania as a state that leans toward the president. Obama won Pennsylvania in 2008, 55%-44%, over Sen. John McCain.

Also see:

Obama radio spot aims at black voters

Poll gives Obama edge in Pennsylvania

Obama campaign hits Romney's Massachusetts record in second TV ad


Filed under: Mitt Romney • Rick Santorum • TV-John King U.S.A.
soundoff (17 Responses)
  1. cardog

    It's great that no one found this articule on Santorum of interest, because in my opinion, Satorum IS of "No Interest". With that said, during this articule, the previous story was about another right wing loser named Joe Walsh. Just line these people up..i.e. Rick Santorum, Joe Walsh, Joe the Plumber, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and many many others. Now stand back, and the image you will clearly see is a group of men who has placed their political party, no longer recognized as the GOP, well above the interest of our country.

    June 12, 2012 07:32 pm at 7:32 pm |
  2. Republicans - "The Not Intended to Be Factually Accurate" Party

    I`m glad all the "red meat" rhetoric is coming back to bite the Republicans.

    There is no way Santorum can credibly endorse Romney and deliver the Maasachusetts "noderate" a swath of so-called "conservative" voters.

    Remember, it was Santorum that said held rather have President Obama in office instead of Mitt Romney. There will be no walking that back. Sorry Ricky!

    June 12, 2012 07:42 pm at 7:42 pm |
  3. Yonni

    Mitten will promise you anything today or tomorrow he knows that he cannot be hold accountable for his words even you hold his hair under fire. Because, he is just like a liquid jell it can take any shape of the container, like a lizard he can change his color at a given time and place. For Mitt tomorrow is another day there is always another promise to be made. Some may say since Santorum campaigned against Mitt he would have known by now? he really is a true conservative.

    June 12, 2012 08:06 pm at 8:06 pm |
  4. They ought to change from the elephant to the hippo...

    Ha, ha, ha... Even Ricky thinks you're a whimp , Mitt! He's gonna try to boss you around...

    June 12, 2012 08:11 pm at 8:11 pm |
  5. Mike

    Santorum is just a sore loser

    June 12, 2012 08:21 pm at 8:21 pm |
  6. judy

    even ol rick cant get to worked up about milk toast mitt.

    June 12, 2012 08:49 pm at 8:49 pm |
  7. Tubby the Tuba Texas

    Santorum is KILLING the Republican Party...he just hates his Representative for the Presidency!! Why should we not agree with him?

    June 12, 2012 09:16 pm at 9:16 pm |
  8. Wendy

    I like that Romney is moderate. Romney won because he is moderate. And I'm going to do my best to moderate my response by not calling Santorum a sore loser.

    June 12, 2012 09:41 pm at 9:41 pm |
  9. T'sah from Virginia

    Maybe R-Money should put Santorum on the ticket so he will win PA – LMAO – Naw, that's not going to happen because Santorum could not win PA in the primary which is the reason why he quit!!!

    Obama 2012 – The Only Trusted Way Forward!

    June 12, 2012 10:39 pm at 10:39 pm |
  10. Thomas

    Sore losser , maybe Rick should share his feelings with John McCain , another sore looser.

    Learn to turn dislike and discuss for Mitt Romney into love and admiration. Look at John , he's worked through his issues.

    Its no fun being a looser !

    June 12, 2012 10:40 pm at 10:40 pm |
  11. Common sense grandma

    I really do not like Santorum, but I will give him credit for not being hypocritical enough to fall all over himself trying to fawn on Romney. I refer, of course, to Newt Gingrich.I kept hearing how intelligent Gingrich is, bit it is obvious he does not know vocabulary - like the meaning of integrity, for instance.

    June 12, 2012 10:43 pm at 10:43 pm |
  12. politics as usual

    Santorum needs to grow up.

    June 12, 2012 10:52 pm at 10:52 pm |
  13. G

    Romney is not a true conservative. He lied and pandered his butt off to get through the republican primaries, and now he will lie, pander, and etch-a-sketch his butt off for the independent voter's benefit to get through the general election. Santorum knows that by "holding his feet to the fire" in an effort to try to force this flip-floppr to keep his campaign promises that he made during the GOP primaries will screw up his plans to ease back to the center. This is Santorum's way of payback.

    '

    June 12, 2012 11:06 pm at 11:06 pm |
  14. S.B. Stein E.B. NJ

    The idea that Santorum is going to get people elected is just laughable. He didn't win against a Democrat by a large margin. What is he going to do if the endorsed candidate doesn't keep the promise?

    Obama wants to be clean energy and not just coal. We need to be realistic about the sources of energy that we use. We need to get solar, wind, wave and further research into fusion done while expanding fission for the time being. Renewable sources are going to need to be expanded because if we don't, we lose it to places like China. We can't lose to China.

    June 12, 2012 11:15 pm at 11:15 pm |
  15. Larry L

    Even Santorum has problems selling his soul for political points. Old Newt had no problem totally shifting gears. Romney was bought and paid for by the Koch brothers long ago and the democratic process was rendered a joke for Republicans. Ron Paul? Miclelle Bachman? Clowns in the car remotely steered by Karl Rove and the Koch brothers.

    June 12, 2012 11:26 pm at 11:26 pm |
  16. ptw

    Sounds like Santorum thinks he actually has a chance in 2016 and so doesn't want to help Romney too much. Alas for Santorum, the only way he wins in 2016 is if his primary opponents are even crazier than the 2012 batch.

    June 13, 2012 01:44 am at 1:44 am |
  17. BeverlyNC

    Romney is the choice of no Republican. The Republican Party made it very clear they wanted anyone but Romney. Now they are supporting this candidate of last resort. Why should we want this failure as a Presidential nominee? He knows nothing about the issues, could care less about the People, knows nothing about foreign policy, has no clue how to create jobs or restore the economy. He has no principles and is still changing positions based on the audience. Where are the hard-hitting reporters challenging Romney on his lies about President Obama's record, about his refusal to answer the most basic policy questions, and what he actually stands for and has planned to restore America his Party destroyed? Is he going to repeat the Bush policies but with the destructive Ryan budget on top of it? Where is the news media or are you going to softball and ignore the lies and hypocrisy?

    June 13, 2012 05:44 am at 5:44 am |