The Los Angeles Times reported just before noon Central Time that evangelical leaders Bob Vander Plaats (of the FAMiLY LEADER) and Chuck Hurley (of the Iowa Family Police Center) are individually endorsing Rick Santorum for President. The FAMiLY LEADER, which asked candidates to sign a notorious pledge earlier this year, which Newt Gingrich signed last week just to give satirists a ripe target, will not endorse as an organization.
Said Vander Plaats, a failed 2010 candidate for Iowa Lieutenant Governor: "I believe Rick Santorum comes from us, he comes from us, just not to us, he comes from us. He’s one of us. I look forward to the next two weeks to see what I can do to advance his candidacy to get him out of the state of Iowa."
He also said: "Put those numbers together, you have a dynamo candidate coming out of Iowa. Our fear all along was that the conservatives would fragment their vote."
Seema Mehta's LA Times story continues:
Evangelical voters dominate the Iowa caucuses, and delivered a surprise victory to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee four years ago. But this time they have failed to coalesce behind a candidate.
Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich all had hopes of getting the group’s or the men’s nods because the Family Leader as well as Vander Plaats and Hurley have a committed network of religious leaders and conservative activists across Iowa’s 99 counties that could drive supporters to the caucuses when Iowa holds the first voting contest in the nation two weeks from today.
...
Vander Plaats said he had not informed the candidates of his decision, but two Santorum campaign officials were spotted in the hotel where the press conference took place. Jamie Johnson, Santorum’s state coalitions director, denied any advance knowledge of the endorsement and said he simply dropped by because of his respect for the Family Leader and the two men.
So, if we have Paul picking up the libertarians and Santorum picking up the evangelicals, the sailing could be smoother for Romney. My fondest hope is that Romney might pick Santorum for Vice-President in a misinformed and doomed effort to pick up Pennsylvania, creating a Republican ticket with a likeability factor in the negative triple digits.
I want credit for not making any "Santorum" jokes here. They are ... unnecessary.
10:51 AM PT: All right, all right, I'll add "breaking" to the title -- but I will not add "frothing"!