Santorum: Convention floor fight would be 'energizing' for GOP

Rick Santorum on Monday argued that a fight on the Republican National Convention (RNC) floor would be "energizing" for the party.  

"I think it would be a fascinating display of open democracy and I think it would be an energizing thing for our party to have a candidate emerge who isn’t the blessed candidate of the Republican establishment," Santorum said at a campaign event in Appleton, Wis., according to multiple reports.

While GOP front-runner Mitt Romney has pulled to a two-to-one lead in the delegate count and racked up a number of endorsements from GOP heavyweights, his chief rivals, Santorum and Newt Gingrich, have insisted they will continue to campaign until the RNC convention in August. Santorum and Gingrich contend that Romney might fall short of the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the party convenes in Tampa, Fla.

Santorum's campaign released a memo in early March indicating that the former Pennsylvania senator's best chances to winning the nomination could be through a floor fight.

While speaking to reporters on Monday, Santorum said a floor fight would be a "good thing" for the Republican Party.

"It’s a good narrative for us," Santorum added. "It makes this election a short election. The shorter this election in the fall, the better off we are, not the worse."

The comments fall in line with previous statements by Santorum criticizing Romney for too easily assuming that he would win the nomination and arguing that Romney would be a losing bet for conservatives in a general-election match-up with President Obama.

Santorum has called Romney "uniquely disqualified" to face Obama in November. He claims the Massachusetts healthcare law Romney implemented as governor was a blueprint for the Obama administration's own healthcare reforms and that the GOP front-runner would be unable to draw a conservative distinction with the president in a head-to-head contest.

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