Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum came out firing during Thursday's undercard presidential debate, complaining that the first debate with the lower polling candidates was unadvertised.
"In fact, the entire hour lead-up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage," an animated Santorum said. "And that is the chronic situation."
Santorum noted that an NBC News poll neglected to include his name.
"This is what the media has been doing over the past year in trying to segregate and take Iowans out of the process," he said.
Santorum won the Iowa caucuses four years ago, but said that would never have happened if an "entertainer" – Donald Trump – had been focused on instead.
When moderator Bill Hemmer pointed out that Santorum was attending Trump's rival event afterward, Santorum made no apologies, saying that he made the decision because the event was intended to help veterans.
"Are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future, perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump?" Hemmer asked.
"You know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other," Santorum said. "I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump."
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