Top Santorum supporter says he can win Iowa caucus

Bob Vander Plaats, a top surrogate for Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign in Iowa, guaranteed a top-three finish in the state’s GOP caucus, and said Santorum has a real shot at winning the Jan. 3 event.

“I think it’s definitely a direction he’s moving in where he can win — he’ll definitely finish in the top three and if he continues to break like this he could actually win it,” said Vander Plaats, who ran former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s successful 2008 Iowa campaign and ran for governor in 2010, finishing a close second in the primary.

Santorum has experienced a surge in the state as such social conservative leaders as Vander Plaats have began to coalesce behind him, bringing their supporters along. He’s also benefited from the collapse in support for Newt Gingrich and a rough couple of weeks for Michele Bachmann, two other candidates who draw the same type of supporters.

The former Pennsylvania senator tried to keep expectations in check during Thursday’s media frenzy following a CNN/Time poll showing him in third place and rising fast with 16 percent support. 

“We’re going to do better than everyone thought we were going to do a week ago — much better — and that’s all I can say,” Sanotrum said on Fox News when asked to predict where he would finish.

Self-identified evangelical Christians make up more than 60 percent of Iowa GOP caucus-goers, and if a majority move to one person, as they did with Huckabee, that candidate is in a strong position to win in the state.

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