Santorum says freedom, not jobs, is key

MOLINE, Ill., March 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Monday freedom, not the jobless rate, is the key issue in the 2012 election.

In a campaign speech the day before the Illinois primary election, in which he is chasing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania said his candidacy is "more foundational" than the ups-and-downs of the economy, CBS News reported.

"We need a candidate who's going to be a fighter for freedom. Who's going to get up and make that the central theme in this race because it is the central theme in this race," Santorum told about 200 supporters in Moline. "I don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. Doesn't matter to me. My campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. It's something more foundational that's going on."

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul responded in an e-mail to reporters that Santorum's remarks show him to be an "economic lightweight."

"Wow. Sen. Santorum may not care about the unemployment rate in this country or the nearly 24 million Americans struggling for work, but Mitt Romney does and is running to get people back to work," Saul said. "If anyone needed evidence that Rick Santorum is an economic lightweight, they needn't look any further than his various statements today."

CBS said Santorum later told reporters, "Of course I care about the unemployment rate."

"I want the unemployment rate to go down, but I'm saying, my candidacy doesn't hinge on whether the unemployment rate goes up and down," he said. "Our candidacy's about something that transcends that; it's about freedom, it's not about, you know, Gov. Romney's idea that he's going to fix the economy, which is something that, of course, we as Republicans don't believe that presidents fix the economy; we believe that we try to do things to create an atmosphere for the economy to fix itself."

Polls have shown Romney leading Santorum heading into the Illinois primary, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas trailing well behind. Fifty-four of Illinois' 69 delegates are at stake in the primary, with the remainder to be apportioned at the GOP's state convention. Santorum isn't registered in all of Illinois' congressional district so the most delegates he could win is 44.