Bob Vander Plaats has predicted a
surprise win in Iowa for Rick Santorum.
The CEO of The Family Leader recently
endorsed Santorum's presidential bid.
(Related: Rick
Santorum: Bob Vander Plaats asked for money to promote endorsement.)
Vander Plaats is best known for leading
last year's successful campaign to oust three of the seven Iowa
Supreme Court judges who overturned the state's ban on gay marriage
in 2009.
Santorum, along with Minnesota Rep.
Michele Bachmann and Texas Governor Rick Perry, signed the group's
controversial 14-point anti-gay marriage pledge, which asks each
presidential candidate to “vigorously” oppose marriage equality,
be faithful to his or her own spouse, vow to protect women and
children from pornography and reject Sharia law because it is a “form
of totalitarian control.”
During an appearance on Fox News,
Vander Plaats told host Gretchen Carlson that Santorum, who in recent
days has surged in Iowa polls, would be the surprise winner of
Tuesday's Iowa caucuses.
Of the last-minute surge, Vander Plaats
said: “Rick Santorum had a lot to do with it. He did visit all 99
counties. He did 350 community meetings. And everywhere he went
people just said they liked Rick Santorum. … Conservatives were
looking for someone to rally around, to coalesce around, to be the
alternative to [Mitt] Romney, to beat Barack Obama. And I think
tonight you're going to see that candidate is Senator Santorum.”
“I think there's going to be a
surprise tonight. And I think that surprise is going to be: Santorum
is actually going to win this in Iowa.”
Vander Plaats also suggested that
Evangelicals were not likely to support Romney should he become the
GOP presidential nominee.
“So far, throughout this cycle, he
has pretty much dissed our base. Not shown us a whole lot of … you
know, that he would want to come and visit us.” (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit
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