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Santorum campaign message has some worried about focus
Rick Santorum is facing a critical moment in his presidential bid Tuesday, and it comes as some observers believe his campaign is having trouble focusing.
"They've had difficulty sustaining a message, particularly once Santorum's campaign earned its way into the first tier," said Matt Mackowiak, an unaffiliated Republican consultant.
After the former Pennsylvania senator bested rival Mitt Romney in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last month, his campaign message has seemed to be all over the place: he ended up apologizing for saying he wanted to "throw up" when he saw a clip of John F. Kennedy talking about the separation of church and state. He called President Obama a "snob" for saying all Americans should have the chance to go to college and later admitted that probably wasn't "the smartest thing" to say. He accused the Romney campaign of rigging the delegate allocation in Michigan. And he's had a problem with women voters, which some say is because of his statements on contraception and women in combat.
And these stumbles showed up last week in Michigan and Arizona, where Romney, who won both states, also won among women voters and Catholic voters, a particular blow to Santorum, who is a devout Catholic.
He could face the same problem Tuesday, when 10 states hold their nominating contests. Ohio, in particular, will be closely watched given the tight primary race between Santorum and Romney and the critical role it plays in the general election.
Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, who is unaffiliated with any candidate, gave a critical assessment of the Santorum campaign's focus.
"It's just a classic example of a campaign and a candidate being totally overwhelmed and unprepared to have the spotlight shining so brightly. And why having been around the presidential track before, as Romney has, is such an advantage," McKinnon wrote in an email to The Hill. "His message has been all over the map."
The former Pennsylvania senator entered the presidential race on a shoestring budget and skeleton staff. Instead of a major campaign rollout, like what Romney did, Santorum focused on retail politicking in one state — Iowa, which he won. But the delays in counting the caucuses there meant Santorum wasn't declared the winner until two weeks later, depriving him of some early momentum.
Santorum has used his subsequent rise in the race to argue that he's the underdog candidate facing off against a wealthy, established, moderate Republican elite who can't appeal to blue-collar workers.
On a conference call with reporters on Monday, Santorum said of the nominating contest: "To suggest this is David and Goliath is probably a little bit of an understatement."
While on the campaign trail, Santorum has attacked Romney and Obama both on the economy and healthcare while also running a campaign that emphasizes social issues. The result appears to be a mixed message to voters.
"A first rate campaign is able to roll out a message in a multitiered, multifaceted, disciplined way," Mackowiak said. "It's a range of things, social media, a blast email and that's how you sustain a message. And from what I've seen, Santorum seems to revel in the fact that he doesn't have a speech writer, that he doesn't have a teleprompter and sure, that's a strength. It's a strength until it's a weakness."
But, Mackowiak said, right now Romney's campaign versus Santorum's campaign seems to be a mismatch.
"I'm not trying to come out critical of the Santorum campaign because I'm very impressed with what they've done with so little to work with," Mackowiak said. "It seems to me right now, Santorum's playing checkers and Romney's playing chess."
Hogan Gidley, communications director for Santorum, bristled at the argument. The campaign plans to focus on energy and gas issues after Super Tuesday, and Gidley says this isn't a digression from the campaign's angle so far.
"They're linked. Energy consumption, energy production — that's an economic issue. … But at the same time, it's a national security issue. We're beholden to another country for a vital piece of our economy," Gidley said.
Gidley said the campaign has consistently presented Santorum as the only true conservative in the race.
"We have pushed the fact that Rick Santorum is the only full spectrum conservative in this race," Gidley added.
Even with the stumbles and a wide margin between the number of delegates Romney has and the number Santorum has (Romney has more), Santorum is voicing nothing but optimism in public. He's repeatedly noted that despite having a much leaner campaign compared to Romney's, he's the former Massachusetts governor's chief rival.
"Money's not going to buy this election," Santorum said at a campaign stop in Ohio earlier this week. "The best ideas that win the American people is going to win this election."
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