Santorum: Michigan Was a 'Remarkable Accomplishment'

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Wednesday that the tie in the number of delegates he achieved in his main rival’s home state was a “remarkable accomplishment” and if he spends as much in Pennsylvania as Mitt Romney did in Michigan “we’re going to smoke him.”

 

 “I feel very, very good that what we’ve been able to accomplish with limited resources is really quite remarkable . . . come out of Michigan 15 to 15, dead even on delegates,” Santorum told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “That is remarkable accomplishment — being outspent 6 to 1 in Governor Romney’s home state. I guarantee you: You give me a 6 to 1 advantage in Pennsylvania, he won’t come out with half the delegates in Pennsylvania — we’re going to smoke him.

 

“That’s why I feel like we’ve got a better message: We connect with the voters better and particularly in these key industrial states and issues line up better for us,” the former Pennsylvania senator said. “The biggest issues of the day — like Obamacare versus Romneycare — and the issues of government control of your life.
 

“Look, I mean, we were battling in a state where his dad was governor . . . he won his home county by 32,000 votes, which was the margin of victory in the entire state,” Santorum continued. “Now we’re going to move. Here I’m in Tennessee: We’re double digits ahead here in Tennessee — we feel we’re going to win Tennessee, we feel we’re going to win Oklahoma — we’re coming into Ohio feeling very good. It’s going to be competitive. It’s going to be tough state.”

Hannity asked whether Santorum could have won more delegates in Michigan, and also the state’s popular vote, if he had not “made a couple of comments: One about the JFK speech that you said, made you want to vomit — you since pulled back on that — and this idea that President Obama was a snob.”

Santorum said he might have chosen his words better.

“Well, you know, Sean, we’re out here on the stump, and we’re working hard, and we’re talking to audiences — you are going say things, you look and say: ‘Well, maybe I should have used a different term,’” Santorum said. “But, you know what I was talking about in those situations? What is really at stake in this country — that is freedom. We have a president who . . . wants to control your life, your healthcare, and financial services.

“Yes, I do get fired up — sometimes I say things that are a little strong. But you know what? People out here — as you were just talking about — people out here are upset,” he said. “They know this country is in trouble and they want somebody to fight against Obama and has the principle and record to take him on.”