Santorum crisscrossing Iowa in hopes of 2012-style repeat

ALTOONA - Rick Santorum continues to canvass Iowa, engaging Iowans in retail politics and hoping to reclaim the magic that made him the winner of the 2012 Iowa Republican caucuses.

Santorum has held more campaign events in Iowa than any candidate of either party this cycle, according to the Des Moines Register.

On Sunday afternoon Santorum toured a gun show at Adventureland Park, working the room and chatting and taking photos with gun enthusiasts.

This weekend he traveled from western Iowa and U.S. Rep. Steve King's pheasant hunt - 'I got my limit,” he told an inquirer at the gun show - to a fundraiser in Davenport on Sunday night.

The relentless campaigning served Santorum well in 2012, when a late surge propelled him to a victory in the caucuses.

He hopes it serves him well again in 2016.

'Meet and talk with folks like we just did in there (at the gun show), make that personal touch, get a chance to answer people's questions,” Santorum said. 'You say, ‘What's the value of that?' Well, they're going to go talk to their friends, they'll post something on social media, and it's that type of hand-to-hand getting your message out that worked for us very, very well four years ago.”

Santorum remains stuck in the bottom tier in polling on the GOP race in Iowa, around only 1 or 2 percent.

While he acknowledges he'd like those numbers to be better, Santorum goes back to the late surge that propelled him in 2012.

'We've got a long, long time to go,” Santorum said. 'And for us it's just keep putting in the time, keep putting in the work. I know our message resonates, and I know people have a positive feel about us.”

Many Iowa Republican voters remain undecided; often they say they have a short list of candidates they are considering.

Santorum said that's his campaign's key: to be on those lists.

'If someone says, ‘Well, I like somebody else today,' I say, ‘That's fine. Can I be second?' ” Santorum said. 'I did that four years ago. I just wanted to be on the list, be second on the list. And you'd be surprised how many (candidates) get crossed off that list as time goes on.”

Santorum told people at the gun show that he is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights. He chatted with representatives of the Iowa Firearms Coalition about state gun laws.

Afterward, Santorum told reporters he believes the federal government should address reciprocity for legal gun owners who carry across state lines.

'If states have a conceal carry law that allows you to conceal carry, that should be respected everywhere else,” Santorum said.