EAT’N’GREET: A smiling Rick Santrum, fresh off a strong showing in Iowa, makes the rounds yesterday at the Tilt’n’Diner in Tiilton, NH (
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MANCHESTER, NH — Granite State voters are giving GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum a fresh look, and they like what they see.
Feeling a bounce from his strong No. 2 finish in the Iowa caucus, Santorum yesterday climbed past Newt Gingrich into third place in New Hampshire, according to Suffolk University’s first post-Iowa poll.
“My sights are not on passing anybody, but on just getting to the top,” Santorum told The Post while glad-handing the lunch crowd at the Tilt’n Diner in Tilton, NH.
Santorum remains far from that top spot currently occupied by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney before Tuesday’s primary. But the poll showing Santorum has the support of 8 percent of the state’s GOP voters also revealed Romney’s support at 41 percent is slipping slightly.
Santorum, a former US senator from Pennsylvania, attracted new supporters at every stop yesterday as he barnstormed across New Hampshire.
“He’s a straight shooter,” gushed housewife Elizabeth Lempka, 48. She said she would “definitely” vote for Santorum after hearing him talk about reforming Social Security and enacting a robust foreign policy during a crowded town-hall meeting at an old railroad depot in the sleepy town of Northfield.
After seeing Santorum for the first time at the event, retired nurse Ruth Mann, 76, was leaning toward voting for him because she wants “a strong leader.”
“I saw some strength here that I haven’t seen in other candidates,” Mann said, adding she thought Romney didn’t fit the bill.
Despite the glowing reviews, Santorum has a long way to go in a very short time to catch up with Romney, who enjoys a double-digit lead over the field.
Santorum doesn’t have to beat Romney to stay competitive in the next primary, Jan. 21 in conservative South Carolina, said GOP strategist Doug Heye.
“He doesn’t have to win it outright, given how far behind he was the day before the Iowa caucus,” Heye said.
Santorum is getting help chipping away at Romney’s lead from Gingrich, who has abandoned his pledge to run a positive campaign after attack ads from Romney and others knocked him out of a front-runner spot.
The former House speaker unleashed a blistering assault on Romney, faulting him for being “liberal,” “rich” and a “liar” and having a “timid” economic plan.
So far, Gingrich and Santorum have avoided attacks on each other, prompting speculation of a “non-aggression pact.”
A Santorum campaign official denied any agreement, saying that Santorum wouldn’t spare anybody at the GOP debates Saturday and Sunday.
“It is every man for himself on Saturday,” said the official.