URBANDALE, Iowa ? Rick Santorum received an important boost with Christian conservatives here in the home of the first caucuses Tuesday with the endorsement of local evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats.
The social conservatives who weigh heavily in the GOP caucuses in the state helped deliver a win for Mike Huckabee four years ago. Santorum?s been hoping to repeat the trick with at least a stronger than expected showing that could keep his campaign going, running a retail heavy campaign focused on the social conservatives naturally within his base.
Continue ReadingVander Plaats provides the former Pennsylvania senator with one of the most sought after imprimaturs for these voters.
?I believe Rick Santorum comes from us,? Vander Plaats told reporters at a press conference in a hotel lobby here. ?Not to us. He comes from us. He is one of us.?
But Santorum won?t be getting the official backing of the Family Leader, the evangelical organization Vander Plaats leads. The Family Leader board elected to remain neutral while allowing Vander Plaats to back Santorum.
?The Family Leader will remain neutral in this presidential campaign cycle, though the board has made a unanimous decision to allow Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley to make personal endorsements which reflect the board?s unanimity,? read a press release from the organization distributed Tuesday.
Santorum also won the endorsement of Chuck Hurley, the president of the Iowa Family Policy Center. Like Vander Plaats, Hurley claimed that he was ?taking a day off today? from his official post and was backing Santorum as an individual.
Santorum, Hurley said, ?meets and exceeds the biblical qualifications? for Iowa evangelicals.
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