Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is trying to win the vote of Florida’s large population of seniors by telling them that his rivals Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are supporters of Obamacare.
During a campaign stop in Lady Lake, Florida Monday, Mr. Santorum told his supporters there that Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich should be “unacceptable” to conservative voters based on each of their political track records, The Associated Press reports.
The former Pennsylvania senator has made an effort to appeal to conservative voters on the basis that he is the “true conservative” in the race in comparison to the other remaining candidates. After it was confirmed last week that he had actually won the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Santorum deflected the notion from Mr. Gingrich that he should drop out of the race so that Mr. Gingrich could go head to head with Mr. Romney.
Recent polls indicate Mr. Gingrich is surging in popularity among voters in Florida, the latest Gallup tracking poll of likely Florida Republican primary voters shows him holding a 9 percentage point lead over the former Massachusetts governor. In that same poll, Mr. Santorum finished a distant third with 11 percent of the votes, more than 31 percentage points behind Mr. Romney.
Regardless of the poll results though, Mr. Santorum is trying to draw a clear distinction between himself as the true conservative candidate in contrast to his rivals.
“I never supported anything close to Obamacare. Sadly, that is not the case with the rest of the people in this field,” said Mr. Santorum Monday. “Whether it’s Gov. Romney with Romneycare or Speaker Gingrich and a 20-year promotion of the individual mandate.”
Mr. Gingrich has consistently stated that he was against an individual mandate while speaker of the House in the 1990s, recently stating that he had repealed “Hillarycare,” referring to the health care mandate proposed by Hilary Clinton while she was the nation’s first lady during the 1990s.
Over 3 million Florida residents are ages 65 and older, so Mr. Santorum is hoping that his appeal to them will help him garner a top tier finish in next week’s Florida Republican primary election.
“When they continue to cut doctors and hospital reimbursements, doctors who have to make money are going to have to take more private-pay patients and less Medicare patients,” said Mr. Santorum Monday, adding that Mr. Obama’s healthcare law is responsible for major cuts to Medicare reimbursements.
The former Pennsylvania senator will have a chance to directly engage voters in Florida alongside Mr. Romney, Mr. Gingrich and Texas congressman Ron Paul during the presidential debate moderated by NBC News Monday night in Tampa Bay, Florida.
