South Carolina’s Top Pro-Life Lawmaker Backs Rick Santorum

Politics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 12, 2012   |   12:21PM   |   Columbia, SC

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum has received the endorsement of South Carolina State Representative Greg Delleney, who was named the pro-life legislator of the year.

Delleney represents Chester and York Counties in the South Carolina House of Representatives.  An attorney by trade, Delleney is a graduate of The Citadel and was awarded the Palmetto Family Council South Carolina Legislator of the Year in 2007 and the South Carolina Citizens for Life Pro-Legislator of the Year in 2008 for his work on behalf of protecting unborn children.

Representative Delleney said: “Senator Rick Santorum recently was quoted as saying that ‘we need someone who has the bold, sharp contrasts, not just to win the election but to govern the country.’  I agree with Senator Santorum and that is why I have decided to endorse him as the Republican nominee for President of the United States.”

“Senator Santorum has the experience and knowledge to lead the United States during this critical time in the history of our country.  He is a true conservative who shares our traditional values of being pro-life,” he added. “I am honored to endorse and support Rick Santorum for President of the United States.”

Santorum responded to the endorsement, saying, “Representative Delleney has been an incredible leader for the founding values of our nation in South Carolina, namely the first principle of valuing life.”

“I am honored to receive his endorsement today as we continue to build our campaign’s momentum in the First-in-the-South primary state of South Carolina.  I look forward to working with Greg in the coming days as we move toward victory in the Palmetto State,” he added.

Santorum is using South Carolina as his next state to, like Iowa, gain a boost in the campaign.

Mike Biundo, the campaign manager for Rick Santorum, says he is confident he can gain more ground, saying, “We feel very confident … that the voters are going to end up coalescing around Rick Santorum, and I think that South Carolina is a good place to start that.”

“We took all our Iowa staff that wanted to go down,” Biundo told reporters. “We feel very good about our operation in South Carolina. I think we’re going to do very well there. … We’re already up with ads. We’ve gotten a mail piece out. … We’re gonna go everywhere on the ground. We’re obviously gonna put a lot more money into media than we did [in New Hampshire], certainly more than we did in Iowa, as well. … I think we have about a million dollars committed [to advertise in South Carolina] between what we’re putting in and what we’re gonna put in. So I feel pretty good about that now and we’ll be adding more and reassessing as things go along.”