Santorum stands up to hits on his policy positions
Support remains steadfast as top rival blasts him
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has spent a week under increased scrutiny for reversing his position on several decisions he made during and right after his tenure in Congress, but supporters who rallied in Michigan on Sunday said his changes made very little difference to them.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is in a fierce battle with Santorum in Michigan’s GOP primary Tuesday, has attempted to take full advantage of Santorum’s comments last week that he “took one for the team” when he supported President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind education legislation in 2001.
Romney has also criticized Santorum for backing former senator Arlen Specter over conservative Sen. Pat Toomey in a 2004 GOP primary as well as for seeking and voting for earmarks as a member of Congress.
Romney, who was born in Michigan, leads Santorum 37% to 35% in the state, according to a Real Clear Politics average of recent polls. And although Romney has received his share of criticism over “flip-flops” on certain issues, Santorum supporters said their candidate’s changes of heart were different.
Rick Miller, 62, of Lake City, Mich., said Santorum has “stuck to his principles” on issues such as abortion and is “the total opposite of what we are trying to get rid of.”
“It’s from here on out, if he’s on track I don’t care what happened in the past,” said Miller, who paints highway lines.
Tom Denton, 50, of Traverse City, said he agreed with Santo- rum’s views on health care and immigration and called Romney “a fake.”
“You listen to him and you don’t know what he’s standing for,” Denton said. “He’s out there . . . saying he is a ‘severe conservative’ 27 times. I’m sorry if you have to pound away that you are conservative — you’re not.”
Santorum said Romney’s attempt to characterize himself as the most conservative candidate in the race was “a joke.”
“I get so much criticism because I’m too conservative, I’m too doctrinaire, . . . Gov. Romney, as you know, has a long and strong reputation of voting on both sides of almost every single issue,” Santorum said Sunday on NBC’S Meet the Press.
He said that after he saw how No Child Left Behind was imple- mented, he reconsidered his support for the law.
Joleean Kennard, 43, a social worker from Cadillac, Mich., said Santorum explained his reasoning in a way that satisfied her.
“Mr. Santorum is stepping up and saying sometimes as a politician you do have to pick the lesser of two evils and go for things that you don’t necessarily 100% agree with in order to get the other things you want,” she said. “I think Mr. Romney is straight up saying, ‘No, I haven’t made mistakes.’ ”
Santorum continued attacking Romney on Sunday afternoon.
One reason “our campaign is doing well is because we have a vision,” he said. “We have a principled vision and a record to back it up . . . it’s not just ‘I’m a better manager — elect me.’ ”