Mitt Romney is being called on by
social conservatives to appropriate Rick Santorum's message.
At least three prominent conservatives
are urging Romney to shift further to the right if he expects to win
their support after Santorum bowed out of the race.
“I think, first off, if Mitt Romney
wants to capture some of that support that Rick Santorum gained with
very little money based solely upon his message, then Mitt Romney
needs to pick up that message,” Tony Perkins, president of the
Christian conservative Family Research Council, a group opposed to
gay rights, said on CNN.
“The only reason there was an
alignment with Rick Santorum from our constituency is because Rick
embraced the ideas, the policies and the principles that our
organization and our constituency believes in and so to the degree
that one candidate or another aligns with that, they're going to find
support. If they don't, they're not going to get the unbridled
enthusiastic support that Rick Santorum enjoys.”
Faith and Freedom Coalition founder
Ralph Reed said in a The
Washington Post op-ed that Romney's “immediate task is to
consolidate conservative support and unify the party.”
“He must also avoid retreating from
his defense of the unborn life, the institution of marriage and the
right of religious organizations and charities to be free from the
Obamacare mandate governing their health-care coverage.”
In a Human
Events op-ed, Gary Bauer opined that Romney was “having
trouble closing the deal with many conservative voters” then
suggested he should “secure Rick Santorum's endorsement.”