Karen Santorum: Christian Faith Is Everything to Us; Run for President Is God's Will
Rick Santorum's wife, Karen, said in an interview that her husband was running for president because God asked him to, and he is in the primary race "for the long haul."
Karen Santorum told Fox News in an interview she had "totally closed the door to the idea" of her husband, a former Pennsylvania senator, joining the Republican nomination race, but "in the end, despite my resistance, when God asks something – you do it."
In the interview to be telecast Sunday, she said Santorum was running as a calling. He prays daily, telling God, "Lord here I am. I'm your servant. What do you want from me today?" she said. "Our Christian faith is everything to us. It's so important to pick a leader who comes to the table with strong Christian principles." However, she clarified, "he's not going to make people do things they don't want to do."
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Santorum and his wife are both devout Catholics.
Mrs. Santorum said God alone knows the final outcome of the primary race. "We're taking it one day at a time, one step at a time, one primary at a time. We are in this for the long haul. I mean I'm looking to Tampa, but who knows?" she said. "I don't know. Like I said, God has us on a path. I don't know what He has planned. I don't know how it will unfold. I really believe Rick is the guy, I do."
Karen Santorum also indicated that the media had little idea about what her husband truly is. She used words like tickle monster, freeze tag man, game king and pancake maker for Santorum, and praised him for being an "eternal optimist." "He keeps his focus and he says, 'Honey, don't get too high with the good polls and don't get down with the bad ones.' He says, 'we just keep plugging away.' That's his motto, 'keep plugging.' So, we'll keep plugging and see how things go," she said.
Last week, Mrs. Santorum sought to clarify that although her husband opposes legalized abortion and is morally opposed to contraception, "women have nothing to fear when it comes to contraceptives." She told CNN's Piers Morgan, "He will do nothing on that issue. I think the issue was when I said about the religious freedom issue, and not allowing the government to be intrusive in our lives and force us to do something against our conscience."
GOP presidential candidates Santorum, front-runner and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are now preparing for the next important milestone in the nomination race Tuesday when Wisconsin, Maryland, and the District of Columbia will hold primaries.
Santorum said in an interview on CNN's "John King, USA," that his epitaph had been written many times throughout the course of this campaign. "So I'm just going to take it a day at a time and we're going to keep working very, very hard and go out and articulate the principles that I think will win this election in the fall."
