Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will visit Oklahoma on Thursday

By Patrick B. McGuigan
Executive Editor


Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will visit Oklahoma Thursday, The City Sentinel has learned. Santorum is one of the four hopefuls in the Grand Old Party who are still campaigning for the presidency. He will be on the state’s Tuesday, March 6 “Super Tuesday” primary ballot.


Santorum will be in Oklahoma City for most of the morning, including a tentative 9 a.m. event. The former Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania will then travel to Tulsa for a 1 p.m. event.


Republican state Chairman Matt Pinnell disclosed the visit during an interview today (Monday, February 6. All details were still being worked out but should be set within the next day or so, Pinnell told The City Sentinel.


Sen. Santorum will be the second upper tier Republican candidate to visit Oklahoma. Gov. Romney came for a party fundraising event in October (http://www.capitolbeatok.com/CustomContentRetrieve.aspx?ID=4061693),


Santorum won the Iowa caucus in January, his best showing of the 2012 campaign. In subsequent contests, he has trailed both Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House Speaker.


Although a multi-issue conservative, Santorum is known as a passionate social conservative. Despite the challenges he has faced, Santorum is one of only three hopefuls to win a Republican contest this year. He appeared to have lost Iowa to Romney, but a Republican party recount several days after the caucus reversed the outcome and awarded him a narrow victory there.


A 15 percent threshold is needed for delegates in the Sooner State. Each of the remaining hopefuls – Santorum, Romney, Gingrich, and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas – are regarded, presently at least, as strong enough to reach that level if the primary vote were held today.


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