Presidential contender Rick Santorum says the final count from the Iowa caucuses might show he beat rival Mitt Romney in what was an eight-point squeaker in favor of the former Massachusetts governor. Santorum also told Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs Wednesday that Newt Gingrich — despite the former House speaker’s contentions — is not the only true conservative vying for the Republican nomination.
The Iowa Republican party is expected to release the official results of the caucuses this morning, two weeks after what was the closest race in the history of the state’s balloting. Santorum told Dobbs he is “hopeful.”
“You know, we're always hopeful that [there was] a keystroke error, here or there — or a transmission of number here and there — [which] could mean a difference,” the former Pennsylvania senator said. “And when you have 1,800 precincts reporting on one night, there’s obviously going to be errors and, you know, we always felt . . . we had a great chance of winning and we still believe we have a great chance of winning.”
Santorum then took Gingrich to task for saying if he and Texas Gov. Rick Perry got out of the race, the former House speaker would consolidate the conservative vote and win the GOP nomination.
“Yes, the Ricks are supposed to get out of the race because he’s the only one that can do this. And you know . . . when I was in the leadership of the United States Senate every conservative came to me and they knew I was trustworthy, reliable, stood for the principles that I articulated in private — just like I did in public,” Santorum said. “And you could trust me to go, and go to the mat, for the things and the causes I believed in.
“And you know with Congressman Gingrich obviously — not only that he was removed after four years but there was a coup after three years by conservatives to try to . . . remove him from office,” he continued. “Look Newt is a good man — and he’s a great generator of a lot of different ideas and ways of looking at things.
“But if you look at leadership and if you look at someone who is steady, someone who is trustworthy, someone who you can rely upon when things get tough and he wasn’t going to, you know, jump on one side of the issue when it’s to his advantage and on another side when it’s not,” Santorum said. “That’s [when] you’re looking for someone like Rick Santorum who has been a strong steady conservative all the way.”
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