Republican presidential candidate former Senator Rick Santorum visited Cornell College in Mt.Vernon, Iowa on Monday and spoke to students about his campaign. Mr. Santorum took questions from the students ranging from marriage to abortion to energy independence.
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In the clip above, Mr. Santorum explained his position on drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). He found himself getting into arguments with several students who describe ANWR as “beautiful” and that drilling for oil in Alaska would be detrimental to the environment. One student asked the Pennsylvania Republican what would happen when all the earth’s oil runs out. Another cited a concern about the environment “collapsing” in the future as result of oil drilling.
The clip below is Senator Santorum describing to the Cornell College Students why he believes the Constitution provided no right to an abortion. What is particularly disturbing in this clip is the students’ reaction to his declaration when he says, (33 sec in) “I would make the argument that 40 million of your brothers and sisters who aren’t here today is pretty unfair. If you look next to you, there One of you isn’t here today because of abortion. You’re a survivor. You’re a survivor generation.” At that moment the students in the room began laughing.
The campaign took further questions from the press after the event. Mr. Santorum agrees that fellow presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Republican, (who is now polling ahead of Newt Gingrich in Iowa) has a long time organized campaign in Iowa; however Santorum reiterated that he believes he is the “better” candidate who will surprise people on January 3.
