There is no way to restore America’s economic prosperity, Santorum argued, without strengthening marriage and family. “It’s a huge, huge opportunity for us,” he said when he described the findings in a January presidential debate in South Carolina, drawing big applause from the crowd.
Rather than causing tension within the Republican coalition, the party’s pro-family and pro-growth messages work together. Romney must run a general-election campaign in which the cultural agenda and the fiscal one reinforce each other.
He must also avoid retreating from his defense of unborn life, the institution of marriage and the right of religious organizations and charities to be free from the Obamacare mandate governing their health-care coverage. Otherwise, he will confirm the worst fears of those faith-based voters who wonder if his positions are based on convenience, not conviction. He need not lead with these issues, but when they arise, he should lean into them and forthrightly state his views. (Think John McCain at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Civil Forum in 2008.)
As he works to close the gender gap with Obama, Romney and his team must keep in mind that the largest chasm in the electorate is actually the “marriage gap,” in which Republican presidential candidates have historically won married voters with children by wide margins. As amply demonstrated by the kerfuffle this past week over a liberal pundit’s comments about women who work at home, the gender gap can be narrowed by appealing to women who value their time with family and children as much as they value their careers outside the home.
The second group with which Santorum performed extremely well was voters who did not graduate from college and who earn less than $100,000 a year. Working-class voters in battleground states such as Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa will be a key vulnerability for Obama in the general election. Romney needs them. Carrying only college-educated voters making more than $100,000 a year is a recipe for electoral death for the Grand Old Party.
On the night of the Iowa caucuses (which he would only later learn he had won), Santorum spoke movingly of his Italian immigrant grandfather, who came to America as a young man and worked in the coal mines of western Pennsylvania until the age of 72. Santorum also called for revitalizing the U.S. manufacturing base by cutting federal taxes on those companies to zero. Whatever one thinks of his policy prescriptions, he auditioned a compelling theme for Romney’s general-election campaign — one that could combine the details of Romney’s father’s humble beginnings with a plan for economic renewal based on lower taxes and fewer regulations, not on Obama-style bailouts.
Predicting vice presidential selections is a little like playing fantasy football on a Ouija board. But whether it is Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, Paul Ryan, Mike Huckabee or yes, even Rick Santorum, Romney would be wise to select a well-qualified running mate who can energize evangelicals, faithful Roman Catholics and conservatives, while also appealing to women and independents.
His choice will be subjected to an all-out assault — just ask Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. But adding a compelling running mate who can help drive a winning message about economic prosperity and stronger families would serve Romney well in his battle against Obama’s well-funded attack machine.
ralph@ralphreed.com
Ralph Reed is the founder and chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
Read more from Outlook:
What would Rick Santorum’s America look like?
The origins of Mitt Romney’s corporate worldview
How elections reduce Americans to stereotypes
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