LINCOLN PARK, Michigan—Rick Santorum was scheduled to deliver a "major" address at the Knights of Columbus here, but instead, the former Pennsylvania senator regurgitated his campaign stump speech.
Santorum drew fewer than 100 people — 10 of them nuns from Ann Arbor — for the 55-minute economic speech, which quickly veered to a discourse on family values.
"You want limited government, you better have healthy families. because you can't have it without them," Santorum said, as he discussed the plight of single parents and "broken families."
Santorum's economic plan largely consisted of a pledge to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and to give manufacturers a tax break. He also criticized Obama on gas prices, saying the administration purposefully drove them up.
"I don’t know how stupid he thinks America is…blaming everybody but himself for policies which let's be honest were intentional to drive up the cost," he said.
Despite his campaign saying he would draw contrast with Mitt Romney, Santorum mentioned his opponent's name just twice, once calling him a supporter of government bailouts and “picking winners and losers.”
Once more, he vaguely alluded to Romney, saying he cares about the "very poor." "I care about everybody. I’m a 100-percenter when it comes to a president, not a 99 percent versus one.
The mostly empty ballroom and the disjointed message once again illustrates the growing-pains in Santorum's organization, which still hasn't been able to adapt to being a top-tier campaign.