Rick Santorum Campaign: Maybe It's Time For One-On-One Debate With Romney

A Rick Santorum spokesman floated on Wednesday the subject of a one-on-one debate with Mitt Romney.

In a comment to The Huffington Post's Jon Ward, communications director Hogan Gidley said, "What we were pointing out, we were talking about debates. In '08 when it became a two-person race, Hilary and Obama had a few one-on-one debates. Just pointing that out. I'm wondering if someone calls for that this time."

Earlier on Wednesday, The Daily's Dan Hirshchhorn tweeted that, "Santorum camp starting to push the idea of 1-on-1 debates with Romney, a la Clinton vs. Obama in 2008. 'we've earned the right' 1 aide says."

After winning both the Alabama and Mississippi primaries on Tuesday night, the Santorum campaign is feeling pretty confident.

Santorum's most recent surge has intensified doubts about the future of Newt Gingrich's campaign, though Gingrich has remained defiant.

Comments

[AngryBob86]

11:22 AM on 03/17/2012

I think a one-on-one debate between Romney and Santorum is a great idea. It's a last opportunity for the public too see what complete goofballs the two Republican front runners are. It's especially important for Rick since he doesn't have the PAC resources to actually destroy Romney. Romney, on the other hand, has lately been showing his true colors, a rich, spoiled bully, who's perfectly willing to say or do anything to win a campaign, including using his vast personal wealth to promote unfounded character assassination on his opponents. I doubt Romney would agree to such a debate. When people begin to recognize his true character they run screaming to other alternatives. The greatest benefactor from this Republican primary is clearly Obama. The negative ads and personal attacks by Republicans against Republicans have demonstrated to the public that no Republican candidate is fit to be President of the United States and de facto leader of the free world.

[Stragglerville]

12:01 PM on 03/16/2012

Assuming that most of you have been keeping up with the primary from the beginning, the media has been determining our frontrunners since then. Santorum would still be at the bottom if the media didn't choose him as the flavor of the month.... The same happened with Gingrich. Ron Paul had a short stint during the Iowa caucus. It's sad that most of you get your information from the television. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC all report the same stuff. They all want the worst candidate to compete against Obama.
If I had the resources and time to do the research, I would prove that their is a direct correlation between the way people vote and the influence of the Main Stream Media. And these bogous polls they report are worst. They'll call up the "likely republican voters that will more than likely vote republican". These are your grandparents or maybe your parents. Plus they only interview 400-600 people. They report as if the whole republican party feels that way. They don't report the entire poll or the sample size. Total misrepresentation of facts. So, there should not be a one-on-one debate between Romney and Santorum. Santorum is enjoying the limelight now only to be shot down by the media later.

[Laura Densmore]

02:00 AM on 03/16/2012

It's a shame Ron Paul won't win this. No matter which party it involves, nowadays the extremist always wins. Anyways, if Romney wins, he might defeat Obama, but I can't stand Romney. If Santorum wins, well I can't stand him either but there's no way he'll win. Don't get the impression that I can stand Obama, though; no matter who wins this election, everyone loses.

[tc71087]

12:40 AM on 03/16/2012

Maybe it is, but it would be like talking to a mirror. The mirror is those shape-shifting circus mirror, but still.

[websmith]

11:14 PM on 03/15/2012

Sarah Palin, whio is nothing more than a RINO cheerleader, is better qualified to be President than Obama. We'll take the worst GOP candidate and make this a better country.

[HouseofMayhem]

03:19 PM on 03/16/2012

REALLY?

[taxi648]

10:29 PM on 03/16/2012

I'm still waiting for her to answer Katie Couric's gotcha question, "What do you read?"

[Hwt123]

08:41 PM on 03/15/2012

I am voting for the constitution, for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I am voting for truth and “the American way”, for free markets and capitalism. I am voting for individual freedom and liberty. I am voting against any candidate who attacks my civil liberties, against the National Defense Authorization Act, against the bailouts, and against the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. I am voting against all of the misinformation and bias from the mainstream media. I am voting against racial prejudice in the courts, over-spending, over-regulation, over-reaching, undeclared wars of aggression, and foreign aid to all countries. I am voting for free religion, free speech, free press, and free assembly. I am voting for the right to due process under the law, the protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to possess weapons capable of defending those God given rights, for the ideal set forth by our founding fathers, for the great American experiment, for the representative republic that amazing men and women have sacrificed and died to keep and that I myself would be willing fight and lay down my own life to protect our liberties, and will protect them against tyranny. against those who could be corrupted by power and prestige. I am voting for principles and based on principles that are not only foundations in this country, but principles that I want for my children .

I am voting for Ron Paul.

[Thunder Chicken]

08:50 PM on 03/15/2012

No you're not.

[termgirl]

09:13 PM on 03/15/2012

So you're the one.

[lambdin1]

07:15 PM on 03/15/2012

On no! Please no! Gringrich will pout and pout and pout..... He is already a megalomanic! Have you ever seen one of those pout?!? Geeesh!

[fredisfred]

05:47 PM on 03/15/2012

Great, another Obama bashathon. No solutions, but plenty of finger pointing.

Just what the country needs.

[ftkl1234]

03:51 PM on 03/15/2012

Santorum and Romney should face off and talk on TV about 1) how their ideas about economic and job recovery would differ and 2) would they have ideas on how to minimize the disparity between the 1% and the 99% of American incomes to foster more equitableness? We don't expect equality, we just want a fairer equation!

[RegDame]

02:37 PM on 03/15/2012

Why? So they can go at each other with ramped-up extremism? Outdo each other in turning back the calendar on human rights?

[Reveille]

02:10 PM on 03/15/2012

If I were Rommy I would jump at the chance. Santorum's incredible knack of putting his foot in his mouth while shooting himself in the foot at the same time, would be too good a deal to pass up.

[Tall Can]

01:54 PM on 03/15/2012

I can't wait to see who wins the right to lose to Obama!

[bswell]

05:24 PM on 03/15/2012

Dumb debating dumber on who is the biggest panderer. Statues would walk if these guys ever told the truth.

[benalbanach]

01:49 PM on 03/15/2012

Damn...I wrote 'your ' instead of ' you're ' . Now that's embarrassing , but less so than being caught watching the Mitt and Rick Show..

[benalbanach]

01:44 PM on 03/15/2012

Can't see what would be achieved by having a debate between these two ..Unless your thinking of the entertainment value and even then I'd rather watch reruns of Lucy.

[quovadiszero]

01:43 PM on 03/15/2012

God I do miss Herman Cain.....................