Santorum Waves Away Economics

MOLINE, Ill. — Defying almost all conventional wisdom about the 2012 election, Rick Santorum said the race would not turn on the economy and so it wasn’t important if unemployment and growth rates rose or fell.

Seeking to sharply contrast himself with Mitt Romney, Mr. Santorum waved away economics as he went after his chief rival as insufficiently conservative in his core values.

“I don’t care what the unemployment rate’s going to be,” Mr. Santorum said on Monday, the day before the Illinois primary. “It doesn’t matter. My campaign doesn’t hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. There’s something more foundational that’s going on here.”

Earlier in the day, Mr. Romney had delivered a major speech at the campus of the University of Chicago in which he lambasted President Obama’s economic policies, presenting himself as the Republicans’ best possible opponent. Mr. Santorum, in effect, dismissed Mr. Romney’s wheelhouse issue as irrelevant.

Mr. Santorum has uttered a string of comments that have leaped out and required clarification and backfilling — including on contraception, college and making English the official language of Puerto Rico – and this may prove to be another. He frequently boasts of not having a pollster or speechwriter and being unscripted.

Earlier on Monday, Mr. Santorum attacked Mr. Romney as being unfit to represent the Republican Party because of his support, while governor of Massachusetts, for a state mandate to buy health care.

At his third stop of the day here in western Illinois, Mr. Santorum attacked Mr. Romney’s claim to be the best alternative to President Obama because of his expertise as a businessman.

“You have one nominee who says he wants to run the economy,” Mr. Santorum said. “What kind of conservative says the president runs the economy? What kind of conservative says, ‘I’m the guy that because of my economic experience, that can create jobs’? We conservatives tend to think the government doesn’t create jobs.”

Asked about the remarks later, Mr. Santorum told reporters he did care about unemployment. “I’m saying my candidacy doesn’t hinge on whether the unemployment rate goes up or down.”

He spoke to a supportive crowd that came to its feet many times. Mr. Santorum made clear he considered a victory in Illinois unlikely, but he said if he won “amazing things can happen.”

While Mr. Santorum spent Monday delivering some of his most lacerating attacks yet on Mr. Romney, his rival never alluded to him, directing his fire at the president. To do the dirty work, Mr. Romney has been able to rely on his campaign machine and his “super PAC,” which hammered away at Mr. Santorum on the airwaves, including a new ad which shows Mr. Santorum endorsing Mr. Romney in 2008 as a model conservative.


“If we’re able to do what I know most people think is impossible — carry the state of Illinois — it would fundamentally change this election,” Mr. Santorum said. “It will put us in the position where they’ll stop talking about delegates and start talking about how to stop Rick Santorum from being the nominee.”

It was his biggest applause line of the afternoon.