Obama Campaign: Santorum Could Be GOP Nominee
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Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Obama campaign’s top adviser admitted on Sunday that a general election faceoff between the president and Rick Santorum could be a real possibility.
Robert Gibbs told CNN anchor Candy Crowley Sunday morning that Santorum’s strong blue-collar appeal in some states could edge out Mitt Romney as frontrunner.
“I think because of the way delegates are apportioned, this is going to go on for weeks and weeks, and I think he’s got a legitimate chance to be the Republican nominee,” Gibbs said.
Romney and Santorum are currently neck and neck in battleground-state Michigan, where the primary is Tuesday. Romney grew up in the state as the son of a Detroit auto executive, but the candidate’s lifelong wealth has turned into a target for critics who want to paint him as out of touch.
“[Santorum is] clearly somebody who has a very different economic background than Mitt Romney,” Gibbs said. “He’s not worth $250 million and I assume his wife doesn’t have several Cadillacs.”
For most of this election cycle the Obama campaign’s strategy has been focused on an assumption of Romney clinching the Republican nomination. But with Santorum’s rise in the polls, the campaign has admitted in recent weeks it is now directing a more concerted effort against the former Pennsylvania senator.
Gibbs also addressed another GOP candidate, Newt Gingrich, who criticized President Obama’s recent apology regarding the accidental burning of Korans at a U.S. base in Afghanistan. The former White House press secretary told CNN the president was actively working to defuse tensions over the event.
“I’m not sure many people are looking to Newt Gingrich for foreign policy advice,” Gibbs said. “If there’s a problem on the lunar colony, he’ll be among the first we call.”
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