Santorum Takes the Offensive in Upstate Visit

SPARTANBURG -- Former Sen. Rick Santorum took his campaign back to Spartanburg on Friday, taking questions from the public at the Beacon Drive-In.  

Santorum, who garnered only 2 percent of the vote in the latest Magellan Strategies poll of more than 600 likely South Carolina voters, strove to differentiate himself from the rest of the field by posturing himself as a staunch conservative who was willing to compromise to ensure more transformative changes instead of fighting for the sake of political theater. 

Santorum, returning to Spartanburg after also visiting there in July, vowed to repeal President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, but added that, unlike the rest of the GOP field, he would provide a viable replacement plan.

That plan, he said, would be based on more personal savings and "bottom-up" direct payment strategies between patients and doctors. He also took the chance to lump competitor former Gov. Mitt Romney -- who is currently polling second behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the Palmetto State - in with Obama. 

"It's top-down vs. bottom-up," Santorum said. "The problem with Obamacare, Romneycare, any 'care' that's government-run is that it's top-down, which is antithetical to how America works best."

It wouldn't be the last time Santorum sought to distance himself from the pack, going on the offensive against Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann for seemingly taking a weak stance against gay marriage. 

"In New York state, they have passed the law at the state legislative level and, under the 10th amendment, the states have the right to set the laws that they want to set," Bachmann said while on Fox News in June. 

And on July 22, Perry was quoted as saying that gay marriage was "fine" with him, basing his stance on the 10th amendment as well.

Both Bachmann and Perry later went on to publicly support a federal law defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. 

"Rick Perry said 'it's fine with me.' Michelle Bachmann said 'it's none of my business,'" Santorum said. "Well, let me assure you it's my business. It's all of our business."

Santorum devoted most of the later moments of his appearance to the issue of social conservatism, defending his stance against gay marriage. He admitted to drawing the ire of the gay community after publicly positing a slippery slope argument against gay marriage, stating that it could open the door to other alternative sexual lifestyles. 

"And so the gay community said 'He's comparing gay sex to incest and polygamy, how dare he do this?" Santorum said. "And they've gone out on what I'd argue is a jihad against Rick Santorum since then."

Santorum, who has yet to make waves in any polling among GOP contenders, drew modest crowds at the Beacon and earlier in the day at Tommy's Country Ham House.

Where Bachmann drew hundreds at the Beacon just two weeks ago, and Perry drew similar numbers last week at Tommy's Country Ham House, Santorum drew several dozen supporters to the same locations on Friday.