Rick Santorum’s underdog campaign has now picked up the coveted endorsements of two top social conservative activists in Iowa, who head up the Family Leader group — though interestingly, the organization itself is staying neutral after its board was unable to make an endorsement.
As IowaPolitics reports, the group’s president Bob Vander Plaats said: “I believe Rick Santorum comes from us. He’s one of us.”
Chuck Hurley, head of the Family Leader’s political education arm, the Iowa Family Policy Center, declared that Santorum meets and exceeds biblical expectations.
The Des Moines Register reports:
It has been more than four weeks since the Family’s Leader’s Thanksgiving Family Forum on Nov. 22, attended by six GOP candidates.
Board members met Friday to hash this over, and again Monday night.
Evangelical ministers around Iowa led a loud outcry in protest of an endorsement of the thrice-married Gingrich, whose character they have called into question.
Social and religious conservatives in Iowa have found it extremely difficult to craft a unified endorsement. Their motivation: a vote split between those they view as more staunchly opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage would leave a candidate they consider more moderate - namely Mitt Romney - well-positioned to win on Jan. 3.
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