Rick Santorum: ‘We Always Need a Jesus Candidate’
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Steve Pope/Getty Images(WINDHAM, N.H.) — Rick Santorum addressed his largest crowd ever Thursday evening in New Hampshire while speaking at an event set up by a tea party group, the 9/12 project.
Santorum addressed the crowd and and took questions for almost two hours, as more than 600 people packed into the auditorium at Windham High School and more occupied an overflow room.
Santorum told the crowd that although people say Iowa is “more conservative” than New Hampshire, it was Ronald Reagan who won New Hampshire and George H.W. Bush who won Iowa in 1980.
As Santorum neared the two-hour mark, a moderator informed him he was out of time.
Santorum replied, “I’ll do five more minutes … two more questions!”
But before answering the following question, Santorum told the audience about a radio interview out of Boston he did earlier Thursday. According to the GOP hopeful, the interviewer said, “We don’t need a Jesus candidate, we need an economic candidate.”
“My answer to that,” Santorum added, ”was we always need a Jesus candidate. We need someone who believes in something more than themselves and not just the economy. When we say, ‘God bless America,’ do we mean it or do we just say it?”
During Thursday’s speech, Santorum didn’t mention his rivals by name nor contrast their records, but when asked about the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), he mentioned a “governor from Massachusetts” and a “congressman from Georgia” that supported the legislation.
Also Thursday night, Santorum was endorsed on stage by Christian conservative leader Shannon McGinley, who chairs the Cornerstone organization, and State Sen. Jim Luther.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio