WINDHAM, N.H. — For months, Rick Santorum went from diner to pizza parlor to the living rooms of supporters trying to get someone, anyone, to pay attention to him.
Now that they’re finally listening to the former senator from Pennsylvania, he can’t seem to stop talking.
GOP PRIMARY TRACKER: See which candidates are visiting the early states and where they focusing their time and resources.
Bill Higgins and Judy Hammond are roommates in Dover, N.H., who have a pet goat, Izak, that they take to campaign events to meet presidential hopefuls who pass through their area. Higgins said Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman reacted favorably to the goat, although it did nibble on Huntsman’s coat. (Jan. 6)
In an era of carefully scripted and scheduled campaign stops, Santorum’s town halls are marathons — 90 minutes or more of long, discursive history lessons. Interested in Ronald Reagan’s reform of Social Security in 1983? Santorum will tell you about it. He has plenty of thoughts about the significance to Islam of the town where Iran is thought to be building a nuclear facility, too. And, of course, he talks about presidential term limits in Honduras.
Even as his crowds have grown since his near-win against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the Iowa Republican caucuses, he tries to call on every raised hand in a packed room.
“Hopefully, I’ll wear you down,” Santorum joked to a crowd of about 300 an hour into an event late Wednesday evening. He spotted a dozen more questions as increasingly desperate aides attempted to get him to stop — so he could go on a national radio show and talk some more.
So far, New Hampshirites don’t appear to be worn down.
Instead, in a state that treasures the chance to personally test-drive presidential candidates, Santorum has been greeted by curious and attentive crowds that happily take part in a kind of Socratic routine he weaves into his answers.
“Anyone know what life expectancy was when Social Security was started?” he often asks. “Anyone?” as audience members call out guesses.
“Sixty-one!” he replies, then explains why he believes the retirement age should be raised from 66 now that people are living to 80.
Few make for the doors before he finishes.
“I think he’s got the kind of grasp of issues that Newt Gingrich has,” said undecided New Hampshire voter Lou Murray, 45, “with maybe a bit more charm.”
Santorum’s events go on about twice as long as his rivals’. Romney’s town halls last about 45 minutes, an hour at most. Ron Paul talks for about 20 minutes and then takes 25 minutes of questions. Even the loquacious Gingrich usually cuts off after about 45 minutes.
Part of Santorum’s approach is based in strategy, a way to reassure voters who don’t know him well that 16 years in Congress have left him with a strong enough command of the issues that he could debate President Obama.
He also seems to enjoy taking tough questions and mixing it up with those who disagree with him. On Thursday, he appeared for nearly an hour and a half in front of an at-times hostile college-age crowd in Concord, engaging in a lengthy verbal sparring match with students who questioned his strong opposition to same-sex marriage.
“If it makes three people happy to get married, based on what you just said, what makes that wrong?” he asked one of the questioners.
He was loudly booed at the end of the event, though he appeared unperturbed.
“He’s got command of the classroom,” Alex Caldwell, 35, said with admiration. The former teacher attended an earlier event Thursday at a picturesque railroad museum in Northfield.
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