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Friday, April 20, 2012

Santorum letters to Iowans: Romney as nominee "truly frightens me"






The letters recently sent out by the Santorum campaign that ripped into Mitt Romney were ordered before he suspended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, his campaign manager said.

“It truly frightens me to think what’ll happen if Romney is the nominee,” reads the letter, which the Des Moines Register reported showed up in Iowa mailboxes on Monday – almost a week after Santorum announced he would abandon his bid for the White House.

The two-page appeal for money repeats the most frequently used attacks Santorum leveled against his rival on the trail, mainly that Romney is "a moderate from Massachusetts" who will not be able to mount a real challenge to President Barack Obama on issues like health care.
When asked by NBC News whether the letters were ordered before Santorum's decision to exit the race, his former campaign manager Mike Biundo replied, "Of course."

But the strongly-worded rebuke of Romney triggered speculation about whether it was intentional.

Santorum has yet to endorse a candidate. During a conference call on Monday, he did not dismiss the idea of supporters still voting for him in the Pennsylvania primary next week. “As far as how you vote, that’s up to you,” Santorum told those who phoned in. “I haven’t supported any candidate at this point, so that’s really up to you.”

On the trail, Santorum repeated that the health care legislation Romney signed as governor of Massachusetts makes him "uniquely disqualified" to challenge the president on health care.
"Republicans and conservatives will be crippled by a nominee who presents zero contrast with Barack Obama on the major issues of this election," the letter reads.

But the fundraising appeal is also a reminder of the debt Santorum's campaign is now attempting to pay.  Monday's call with thousands of voters featured multiple appeals for money from call moderator and longtime political aide Mark Rogers.

One of the final lines of the letter read, somewhat forebodingly, "If you do nothing – or if you put off answering my letter by even a few days -- it'll be too late."

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