CORALVILLE, Iowa -- Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said the party needs to offer a sharp, clear contrast with President Barack Obama if it hopes to reclaim the White House next November.
Santorum urged activists in Iowa on Thursday to ignore the pundits and vote for the Republican candidate who can make the clearest break with policies put in place by Obama. He held himself out as that candidate.
Santorum also dismissed his higher-rivals who are flooding Iowa's airwaves with commercials, saying money won't decide who wins the caucuses on Tuesday night.
"I've never dabbled on the dark side," said Santorum, referring to his rivals' past support for health insurance mandates.
The former Pennsylvania senator opened his campaign day with a town-hall meeting in Coralville, in eastern Iowa. He's held nearly 360 such meetings in the state.
Santorum attacked Hillary Clinton's book, written when she was First Lady of the United States, It Takes A Village. "I don't think this country was founded on the proverb that it takes a village to raise a family," he said, adding that he wrote a book in response called It Takes A Family. "It's great reading if you're having trouble sleeping at night," he quipped about his book. He said that abstinence was considered a "bad thing" by the Obama Administration. He added that the administration "is at war particularly against poor children."
Santorum then moved to the economy, saying that he believes on election night the economy will immediately improve. He added that the administration is "at war with anybody who creates anything--except motion pictures in Hollywood."
He repeated his position that families containing undocumented immigrants and American citizens should be broken up. "While its difficult to break up families, these people have broken the law," he said. "I don't see that as harsh, that's how justice works."