Rick
Santorum on Monday guaranteed a victory in Pennsylvania, raising the
stakes for the former senator in his home state ahead of the April 24
primary contest.
“Absolutely,” Santorum told Fox News when
asked if he could guarantee a victory in the Keystone State. “We feel
very comfortable that the people there in the Republican primary know
us.”
The primary calendar does not line up favorably for
Santorum in April, and he will likely need a victory in the state he
served for 12 years as a senator to remain viable in the GOP race.
Mitt
Romney looks to be on the verge of sweeping Tuesday’s primaries in
Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin. With Romney already holding a
more than two-to-one lead in delegates, and leading by double digits in
most national polls, a loss by Santorum in his home state would be
devastating.
But despite the guarantee, Santorum said a Pennsylvania victory would not come easily.
“It’s
a tough state,” he continued. “There’s a large moderate wing of the
party, particularly in the southeastern part of the state. We’ve upset
the apple cart there in Pennsylvania; we were really the first
Republican to break that stranglehold of the Republican Party, and we
actually were part of the movement to change the Republican Party in
Pennsylvania to a much more conservative party, and we’ve been
successful winning elections doing that, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Santorum lost his Senate seat in 2006 by 18 points to Democrat Bob Casey Jr.
GOP strategists said a loss in Pennsylvania would be devastating for Santorum, and predicted the former senator might leave the GOP race if polls indicate Romney will beat him there.
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