Santorum touts family values

MOUNT PLEASANT -- Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum stepped aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown on Tuesday wearing one of his signature sweater vests and bearing his message of "family first."

Those who came to support him wanted to know: Can he overtake Republican front-runner Mitt Romney? And then can he beat President Barack Obama in the general election?

With warplanes and an enormous U.S. flag as backdrops for his news conference and town hall-style meeting, the former Pennsylvania senator told them that, in spite of Romney's strong lead, he plans to push forward.

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, backed off his endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry and introduced Santorum to the crowd. Grooms touted Santorum's Christian values, fiscal and social conservatism and definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

"In deciding which candidate to endorse, there's only one who lays it on the line for families," Grooms said.

Santorum, who is trying to position himself as the top conservative alternative to Romney, said Romney "never won anything as a conservative" and previously stood on a pro-choice platform. Santorum called himself the true conservative, not a moderate favored by pundits.

Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg responded following the news conference by recalling Santorum's 2008 endorsement of Romney as "the candidate who will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear" and "the clear conservative candidate that can go into the general election with a united Republican Party."

At a later campaign stop in Aiken, Santorum told voters they can't trust Romney or Newt Gingrich, and called them unacceptable to conservatives. In a television ad to start running today, Santorum says Romney is the same as Obama and is even more liberal than the Sen. Edward M. Kennedy on social issues.

Although best known for his social platform, including his firm anti-abortion stance, Santorum focused on national defense Tuesday. Santorum, who served eight years on the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized Obama's military spending decisions as a threat to national security.

South Carolina GOP Primary 2012.

"I am the only candidate in this race who has made the statement that I will not cut the defense budget," Santorum said. He also promised not to cut veterans' benefits and pointed to the importance of manufacturing to minimize the U.S. reliance on other nations.

Santorum spoke of a changing work environment and the need today for right-to-work laws. He touched on the importance of choice in education, explaining the obstacles he and his wife faced in home-schooling their seven children in Pennsylvania.

Santorum stopped to say hello to Summerville resident Debbie Blauch and her four sons, ages 1 to 13. She and her husband also have two daughters, including one college student who will vote in her first presidential election this year.

Blauch, who home-schools her children, said Santorum's values most closely align with her own and that Santorum served as her senator when she lived in Pennsylvania.

Reach Allyson Bird at 937-5594 or on Twitter at @allysonjbird.