Meeting Rick Santorum

I finally got my wish this weekend to get the autograph of Rick Santorum, the tea party conservative who should have won the Republican nomination if Americans really knew which candidate was really best for them.

In person, Santorum is as personable and funny as he appears on television or on the campaign trail.

I got the pleasure of meeting Santorum this weekend while attending the Faith & Freedom Coalition Convention in Washington, D.C. On Friday, his new group, “Patriot Voices,” gave me an invitation to a special meet-and-greet with Santorum early Saturday morning at the convention center.

I had him autograph my Redlands Tea Party Patriots t-shirt, which the group sent to me while I was stationed in Baghdad last year. I have since got such Republican rock stars and Ann Coulter, Allen West and Newt Gingrich to sign it.

But I didn’t have Rick’s. I’ve done about two dozen public presentations since returning from war last year, and I often began my presentations by showing off my tea party t-shirt and bragging about all my conservative autographs.

Then, for shock value, I would tell the audience, “and here is an empty spot reserved for President Santorum.”

Liberals would recoil in horror at the joke. Conservatives would laugh and applaud. Rick thought it was funny.

I also got Santorum’s autograph for my son, Marshall. And to really make liberals
shriek, I got a picture of Santorum and me holding up a picture of the Redlands
Daily Facts, which publishes photos of readers who make the paper a part of
their vacation photos.

I did initially pull for Michele Bachmann when she ran. Like Santorum, she is a firery and unapologetic conservative.

Santorum plunged ahead and won the caucuses of my native Iowa by demonstrating the political grit of traveling to all 99 of the counties in the Hawkeye State. He showed how a conservative message, combined with hussle, can overcome the lack of money.

Even liberals were impressed with the juggernaut Santorum had become on the campaign trail.

So I got my wish of meeting Rick Santorum – the rest of America should be so fortunate.

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