Media Room:

USA Today: GOP presidential potential Rick Santorum heads to Iowa

02/15/10

By Kathy Kiely

The last politician to go directly from losing a statewide election to winning the White House was Richard Nixon. After failing to win the 1962 California governor's race, he suggested he was bowing out of politics, telling reporters "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more." Not, as it turned out, until 1968, when Nixon became the nation's 37th president.

Apparently Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, is hoping for an encore. A conservative Republican who lost his Senate seat in 2006, Santorum will be making his second trip to Iowa next month to headline the Iowa Christian Alliance 2010 Spring Kick-Off. The event is taking place in suburban Des Moines. Iowa is where the 2012 presidential race will kick off with local caucuses. President Obama's unexpectedly big win in the state in 2008 positioned him to win his party's nomination and, ultimately, the White House.

Here's a look at the dance cards of some other Republicans who might be thinking of trying to move him out. As we noted last week in the On Politics blog, Sarah Palin will speak this week in Little Rock, home turf of another potential candidate, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will speak Thursday to this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering of activists here in D.C. Last month, former House speaker Newt Gingrich was up in New Hampshire, which every four years holds the nation's first presidential primary.

Update, 3:52 p.m. ET: We just got details on Huckabee's upcoming travel plans. "I'll be in MS and SC this week; NE and IA next week; over the next month will be in Texas, FL, and other places for candidates and party events," the governor said in an e-mail relayed by his consultant, Kirsten Fedewa.

And we haven't even gotten past this year's midterm elections ...

homeJoin Rick on Facebook twitter
eDonate