Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said rival Newt Gingrich is "inconsistent" when it comes to issues social conservatives care about.
Santorum said the former House speaker could be in trouble with Christian conservatives in Iowa for relaxing his stance on the goals of the Susan B. Anthony List pledge, the Des Moines Register reports. The pledge asks candidates to "advance pro-life legislation to permanently end all taxpayer funding of abortion in all domestic and international spending programs," a mission Gingrich seems to have wavered from, based on his recent comments on abortion and embryonic stem cell research.
Despite Santorum's strict conservative views on these issues, Iowa voters haven't rallied around him yet, instead throwing their support to Gingrich. Santorum said he feels his moment will come when voters in the key primary state become more aware of Gingrich's record, nothing that they "may try to look for another candidate."
"I may not be the guy that the girls are initially attracted to when they walk into the dance hall, but ultimately once you get to know all the folks, I'm the one you want to take home to Mom," Santorum said.
Abortion isn't the only issue Gingrich has eased his stance on lately. After calling a controversial South Carolina immigration law that some say would encourage racial profiling "pretty reasonable," Gingrich stood by his stance that some families of undocumented immigrants should not be deported, noting that not all voters would support a policy to "hunt down every single person."
"Take someone who's been here for 25 years. They've been obeying the law for 25 years, they've been paying taxes for 25 years, they're married, they have three kids, two grandkids and belong to a church," Gingrich said at a South Carolina town hall event. "Do you really think the American people are going to send a policeman to take that person away from their family? I don't."