Santorum: Iowa is a must-win state

TIFFIN - In his first visit to the state since his Jan. 3 caucus win, former GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a crowd in Tiffin that Iowa will be key to this year's election.

And for that reason, Santorum has begun his Patriot Voices mobilization campaign, aimed at increasing political engagement and voting for the presidential election in November.

During a speech to roughly 150 supporters at a meet-and-greet barbecue at Bella Sala on Tuesday, Santorum warned voters that the country's future relies on their participation in this year's election. President Barack Obama, he said, is a “serial abuser of the Constitution.”

“I'm sure he is a nice man, but he is a very dangerous president,” Santorum said. “He is a dangerous president because he is someone who is running roughshod over the Constitution of this country, over the idea of having checks and balances between the courts and Congress and president. And he is taking this country in a direction that may be irreversible.”

As for Obama's recent decision to stop deporting illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, Santorum said the president showed a complete “disregard” for the limits placed on him by the Constitution.

“Where is the left in America who were worried about George Bush and his use of force and power as president? This is a president who is making George Bush look like a Pee-Wee Leaguer when it comes to this,” Santorum said. “If they're really concerned about the Constitution, then they need to stand up over this imperial president. This is an election about big things.”

As part of his mobilization efforts, Santorum said he also will be working to expand conservative majorities in Washington by campaigning on behalf of Republican congressional candidates John Archer and Ben Lange during his Iowa visit. He said he plans to visit Iowa and other swing states at least four times before the election.

Though Archer said he did not endorse Santorum during the primary season in order to remain neutral, he said the party needs to work together in order to regain control and welcomed Santorum's endorsement.

“We can't rest on our laurels in this as Republicans in the House of Representatives,” Archer said. “We have to go out and go on the offensive.”

And in light of Iowa's close caucus race, Bob Anderson, chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party, said November's election will likely follow suit.

“I think it will definitely be a battleground,” Anderson said. “In 2000 Al Gore carried the state by somewhere just under 10,000 votes and in 2004 President Bush carried it by a similar margin, and I think it's going to be just that way this time. I think we'll all be working hard right down to the end.”

Though Santorum frequently criticized fellow GOP candidate Mitt Romney during the primary season for being weak on health care, he encouraged the crowd to get involved and support Romney - now the party's presumptive nominee - in November.

“After these last three weeks of Supreme Court decisions and actions on the part of this president I am even more energized, if that's possible, to go out across this country and make sure that we not only elect congressmen and senators to completely control the House and win the Senate back,” Santorum said. “We absolutely must defeat Barack Obama.”

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