Santorum Floats Reduced Federal Role In Education

By Jacob Rosenberg

BOONE, IOWA —- Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum discussed his plans for national education reform today in front of a packed Pizza Ranch in Boone, Iowa.

Santorum, who, as a Senator from Pennsylvania, voted in favor of former President George W. Bush’s ‘No Child Left Behind’ law, told the crowd that he regrets his decision to do so.

“It is a mistake I made…I should have known better,” he said.

When asked how he’d go about fixing the current system, Santorum replied that he’d give more responsibility to families.

The question about education was posed to Santorum by high school senior and Ames resident Meredith Lehmann. She attended today’s event with her mother, Anne, who will be caucusing tomorrow for Santorum.

As a young person, Meredith Lehmann said she worries about the future of education and wanted to ask Santorum what improvements he would make to the nation’s education system. She got her wish, as Santorum pointed to her right away when the Q and A session began.

In his response to the teenager’s question Santorum blasted the Obama administration for expanding the Department of Education’s role.

“The federal government has increased, he said. “It’s top-down.”

While he stopped short of endorsing fellow GOP hopeful Rick Perry’s call to abolish the DoE, Santorum argued that parents should play more of a role in the education process than the government.

And though he did lament his past support for NCLB, Santorum said, “I got a record I’m proud of.”

Santorum, who has garnered increased attention in recent days, told the audience he has made over 30 stops to Pizza Ranches throughout the Hawkeye State. The incredible amount of time he has spent campaigning in Iowa may be one of the reasons he is starting to creep up in the polls.

With Iowa set to hold its caucuses tomorrow, the Santorum camp is hoping that their guy is peaking at just the right time.

Trump Prepared For Third Party Run

Real estate mogul Donald Trump told Fox News Monday that he is prepared to run for President under a third party banner if the wrong Republican candidate gets the party’s nod.

“I do have my ducks in line if I want to do it,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

Trump added however that he was still hopeful the GOP will ultimately select an adequate candidate, despite being caught up in a “crazy” race in Iowa.

The New York businessman has publicly flirted with a Presidential bid since early last year.  Although he initially kicked off speculation by casting himself as a possible GOP candidate, he ultimately announced that he will not run under the Republican ticket.

Trump, who garnered headlines as a possible candidate by questioning Barack Obama’s eligibility, currently hosts the NBC program The Apprentice. He has hinted that he could formally announce his plans following the season’s final episode in late May.

Iowa Preps For A Photo Finish

The Repubilcan caucus in Iowa is headed for a photo finish with three of the candidates being separated by just two percentage points. 

According to the latest poll by Public Policy Polling, the Iowa caucus will go down to the wire as Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are raking in 20, 19 and 18 percent of the vote, respectively. 

Romney and Paul have seen similar figures in Iowa in recent weeks, but the momentum is being controlled by Rick Santorum who has clawed his way back to relevancy in the last few days. 

In addition to Santorum’s surge is Paul’s fall. Paul was previously seeing numbers in the mid-twenties but that has fallen below 20 percent and below Romney. 

“It’s impossible to say who’s going to win Tuesday night,” said Dean Debman, President of Public Poling Policy. “If you think momentum will be the most important factor that’s an argument for Santorum. If you think having the most passionate supporters will be the most important factor that’s an argument for Paul. And if you think the ability to beat Barack Obama will be the most important factor that’s an argument for Romney.”

The remainder of the field has been quietly dwindling. After seeing strong national support, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is lagging behind with 14 percent support. Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman round up the field with just 10, 8 and 4 percent, respectively.  

The results of PPP’s survey were based on the surveys of 1,340 likely Republican caucus voters on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. 

OPINION: We're In For A Wild Ride!

This week, I asked our staff at Talk Radio News Service to give me their predictions for the New Year. Our staff members have a wide variety of backgrounds and range from liberal to conservative. So, here are their predictions for the New Year!

Justin Duckham, our youngest staff member and our Pentagon correspondent, says:

• After being denied a speaking spot at the 2012 Republican convention, Ron Paul will irk the GOP establishment by announcing plans to host a competing event on the same days. The drama surrounding the move and the resulting media narrative of a schism within the party will overshadow anything that happens at the Republican convention.

• Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley make the vice presidential shortlist, with one of the two ultimately landing on the ticket.

• There’s serious talk among House Republicans over removing Boehner from his role as speaker and replacing him with Cantor. However, Boehner maintains his position after the bulk of the conference realizes that a sharp turn to the right will alienate general election voters.

• Mark Kelly will run for the congressional seat currently held by his wife, Gabrielle Giffords.

Richard Miller, who is both our military correspondent and a military historian, has the following predictions for 2012:

• Obama will lose, period. It will not be as easy as some righties think, but he will not win. The history isn’t with him.

• No blockade of Homuz. The real story there isn’t intentional war but the risk of accident or action by a rogue IRG element looking to start a war and no red line between Washington and Tehran to settle things.

• The euro folds for good. It either splits into two currencies or just folds.

• Look for an October surprise by an increasingly desperate Obama. The only sustained bump he’s had in two years came when he killed Osama. He might ramp up a military confrontation against Iran.

• No-brainer: Republicans take the Senate and keep the House.

• Economy continues flat.

• Supreme Court hears Obamacare arguments in March and narrowly upholds the law. But if Obama loses, the law will be waived or repealed.

Santorum Surges In Iowa

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has dedicated much of his time and money trying to win over voters in Iowa in recent weeks, and it finally seems to be paying dividends. 

According to the Des Moines Register’s latest in-state poll, Santorum is quickly gaining ground on frontrunners Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Santorum now sits in third place in Iowa with 15 percent support, nearly a double-digit deficit after four days of polling.  

Romney and Paul rake in 24 and 22 percent support, respectively, and though Santorum has struggled to gain national notoriety in the Republican presidential primary, he has continued to climb in Iowa. 

In fact, Santorum has seen figures that look more promising than his four-day, 15 percent would lead you to believe. According to the poll, the order of the top three candidates in Iowa is rearranged in the last two days, with Santorum replacing Paul as the number two in Iowa.

In the first two days of polling, Santorum was barely seeing double-digit support with ten percent. In the final day of polling, however,  Santorum’s rise became more evident when he doubled his earlier totals, falling just one percentage point short of Mitt Romney’s 23 percent.  

The poll was conducted from Dec. 27-30 and results are based on the telephone interviews of 602 likely Republican voters.