Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was unable to capitalize on the momentum from his close second place finish in the Iowa caucuses last week, as he took a nose dive into a 5th place finish in the New Hampshire Republican primary election Tuesday.
After more than 80 percent of the votes were counted, Mr. Santorum had garnered 9.4 percent with just under 19,000 votes, trailing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney cruised into a first place finish as expected, garnering more than 77,000 votes at 38 percent.
The former Pennsylvania senator was booed by crowds for his views regarding gay marriage at several campaign appearances in New Hampshire last week, but he is hoping that his conservative Christian appeal will resonate better in South Carolina next week. Mr. Santorum did not run any television ads in New Hampshire, choosing to rely on campaign appearances and visits to polling places instead.
Despite his poor showing in New Hampshire Tuesday night, Mr. Santorum has vowed to remain in the campaign and still believes that he can win the race. “We are going to go on to South Carolina,” said Mr. Santorum. “For those who think that somehow or another that this race could be over in one or two states, states that have been well lets say in the backyard and the home of a certain candidate, who by the way I want to absolutely congratulate Mitt Romney for a great victory tonight.”
Mr. Santorum went on to tell the crowd that he talked with Mr. Romney to congratulate him, and told him that he looks forward to continue debating him on the “issues.”
Mr. Santorum will now join Mr. Romney and the other candidates in South Carolina to begin courting voters there leading up to the January 21st South Carolina Republican primary election.
In a Public Polling Policy poll of South Carolina voters released Sunday, more than 50 percent of the voters identified themselves as evangelical Christians, an advantage for Mr. Santorum as that was his major support base in Iowa helping him pull of a come from behind second place finish there.
