Santorum seeking approval from Franklin Pierce reporters

By Kyle Maley
Presidency and the Press

As the Presidential primary season draws nearer, former Senator of Pennsylvania Rick Santorum visited his campaign headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire to answer questions from high school journalists as he attempts to increase his popularity in the polls.

Santorum, a Republican Presidential candidate, has been campaigning in New Hampshire because it is the first state to have primaries during the elections.  While working in New Hampshire on July 18, 28 reporters from the Franklin Pierce University’s Presidency and the Press came to ask questions and gain insight into the Senator’s viewpoints involving abortion, religion, and other candidates.

He addressed his faith and how to appeal to atheists by saying, “As a person of faith, I’m concerned about the increasing hostility towards people of faith.  As long as people can come out equally and have equal voice that that’d be the perfect remedy.”

The Senator also told the students about his plan to attract Pro-Choice voters, saying, “I’ve had the courage to go out and take a stand on a controversial issue and live with it.”  According to factcheck.com, Santorum has had incidents in the past when making statements about abortion statistics.  When on a radio talk show, he claimed that one in three pregnancies ended in abortion, but the latest data states that fewer than one in four pregnancies end in abortion.  He also stated that when abortion became legal, female suicide rates increased, when they actually decreased by a third.

Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, who has also been working in New Hampshire, has been steady by receiving around 35% of people’s votes, according to unionleader.com.  The possibility of Texas Governor Rick Perry entering the race has also made several candidates concerned.  Santorum was unworried, however, saying, “We just keep chugging along.  That’s what we’re going to do.”

Although Santorum is not a front-runner like fellow candidate Romney, he believes he can gain support from the people of New Hampshire and win the primaries in February toward his goal of becoming President of the United States.