Rick Santorum insists he’s got momentum in South Carolina

Rick Santorum, stumping in some of the state’s most conservative, high-voting regions, insisted his campaign had the momentum and predicted he would move on to Florida.

“We feel like we’re the one maybe picking up this last-minute surge in the last day or so,” he told reporters as he arrived in a drizzle at Hudson’s Smokehouse, a barbecue joint that promotes itself with a logo of a pig lounging on a hot dog-bun hammock strung between palmetto trees. “We’re going to be a viable candidate going through this whole process.”

He discounted polls that show Newt Gingrich gaining on or overtaking Mitt Romney. Gingrich’s forceful performances in two debates this week have also drawn most of the media buzz.

“Newt planted his flag down here from the very beginning. He said this was the state he was going to compete in and try to win, and he’s invested the time and resources in it,” Santorum said. “We’ve been playing one at a time and so far been doing pretty well.”

Santorum told about 120 people in a room strung with colored Christmas lights and toasted by a heat lamp, that South Carolina’s Republican voters were like Goldilocks choosing between the three porridges. “You have one candidate who’s a little too radioactive, a little too hot,” he said, not mentioning Gingrich. “Then we have another candidate who’s just too darn cold, who doesn’t have bold plans,” he said, not mentioning Romney. “We need someone who’s just right, someone who is a strong, conviction conservative,” he said, also not mentioning himself.

Touting his record as a consistent conservative, he urged voters to vote their conscience. “I would say to the people of South Carolina to take a step back,” he said, “get past the glib one-liners, the beating up of the media which is always popular among conservatives, get past the inevitability that the person with the most money wins. He didn’t win Iowa.”

He called President Obama’s healthcare plan the signature issue for Republicans. “Once the government has your health, they have your pocketbook and everything else that comes with it, and we are no longer free,” he said. He said the state’s voters would be taking that issue off the table if they picked Romney, who signed into law a similar plan as governor in Massachusetts, and Gingrich, who once supported an individual mandate to require all Americans have health insurance.

Santorum, who often mentions that he is the grandson of a coal miner to stress his blue-collar roots, said that he had helped organize a union. “We’re at a different time in American history,” he said. “We’re at a time right now where it’s not the oppression of capitalists and others who are hurting the working man, it’s the oppressiveness of the government.”

Fresh off a strong debate performance, Santorum was looser than he has been, wearing jeans with a blue sweater vest and cracking more jokes than he usually does. He noted that he and his wife, Karen, had been interviewed by CNN’s Piers Morgan. Afterward, he joked, Morgan leaned over and said to him, “You want my suggestion? Less Rick, more Karen.”

Karen Santorum later stepped in to answer a question on how the stress of the White House would affect their family. “If God is calling you to do something, He will give you the grace and the strength,” she said, drawing heartfelt applause from an audience with many families.

To which, Santorum quipped, “Less Rick, more Karen.”

Albert Jabs, who taught college history, muscled into the usually tightly controlled Santorum lineup, extolling his merits as a “Jesus candidate” in a stentorian voice with professorial cadences. He ranged widely, including a reference to the Civil War. “We did have a war here, you all know that. Sometimes I think we talk about it a little too much,” he said.

Jabs, who called Santorum courageous, asked him for his view on open marriage, a reference to the claim of Gingrich’s second wife that he asked for one, a charge he denies. “Now, I’m going to give him a hot tomato or a hot potato,” he said. “Ok, Rick, run with it.”

“I don’t know whether to thank you or not,” Santorum replied, saying that he believed in forgiveness, and it was up to the people to decide what it said about Gingrich’s character.

Earlier, the 78-year-old, who approached reporters to offer his views on Santorum, expressed his own opinion on the issue. “America is not ready for open marriage,” he said. He said that he was drawn to Santorum for his unwavering beliefs. “He stands for something,” he said. “He’s not willing to be a chameleon and change like the others.”

Santorum, usually relatively punctual, was a half-hour late. He said his daughter, Elizabeth, was directed into a curb by her GPS and blew two tires. Coincidentally, a woman in a tire suit showed up at the event, proclaiming: “America needs inflation.”

Asked if the incident was a metaphor alert, Santorum said: “There’s no metaphor alert. We’re doing great. Life is good. We had a great night last night. Calls are going great today. Our volunteer centers are full. We’re feeling very, very good about things right now.”

Minutes later, he had his punch line ready after he apologized for being late because of the accident: “We are running on all four wheels and doing very, very well.”