OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Fresh-faced and self-assured, the conservatively attired man from western Pennsylvania seemed better suited for the priesthood than he did preaching politics from the stump.
Just in his mid 30s, Rick Santorum was taking on incumbent U.S. Senator Harris Wofford, a respected Democrat, prominent civil rights activist and advisor to John F. Kennedy's presidential run. Wofford inherited the seat in 1991, appointed by then-Governor Bob Casey following a tragic airborne collision that felled a Piper Aerostar PA60 carrying iconic Senator John Heinz. Wofford then won in a special election.
But the race of 1994 was something to remember. It presented a political pendulum in a milquetoast state known for moderates like Casey, Senator Arlen Specter (R) and former governor/U.S. attorney general Dick Thornburgh.
The mood of the country was much like today, burning with frustration and crying for a sea-change that Santorum then tapped, and which he brilliantly and methodically exploited in Tuesday's virtual draw with the heavily favored Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucus.
1994: Gingrich, Clinton & Change
I was a reporter at the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader in the 1990s, a local paper in northeastern Pennsylvania, covering local and county politics. Though we had never covered anything outside of our immediate circulation, we sensed there was something notably important happening both in the state and in our country, and that we needed to step up.
A new Conservative speak was resonating, buoyed by a bombastic Georgia congressman named Newt Gingrich. He talked about a revolution, a Contract with America, and achieving something considered beyond impossible--delivering the House of Representatives, the home of Democratic power for most of the 20th century--to a new and emboldened Republican party. Santorum was part of that wave.
Our newspaper partnered with Dr. Tom Baldino, head of political science at the local college, Wilkes University. We conducted a scientific poll of our county to identify the issues that concerned them most and from which we would scour the positions, political tacks and voting records of the candidates for governor and U.S. Senate.
I worked with a brilliant reporter, Dawn Shurmaitis, who was assigned the Senate race, while I covered the race for governor. We convened daily and covered for each other. It was during this time I would meet Santorum.
The race was presented as one of contrasts: Wofford, the cerebral, even-keeled statesman, and Santorum, the bombastic, in-your-face social conservative. With strong backing from the Democratic machine, Wofford was considered a prohibitive favorite.
Yet, there was unrest. Many saw Wofford as out of touch to the changing political climate. His ways were those of the '60s, and there were questions about his commitment to gun rights in a blue-collar state that was religiously Conservative and fiscally Liberal.
While many saw Santorum as vain and, at times, petulant--someone you might want to punch in the nose--he was indefatigable, relentless, hopscotching across the entire swath of this Appalachian state, from Wilkes-Barre to Altoona, Scranton to Erie.
Another quality resonated: conviction.
Though an underdog against the better known, better financed Wofford, Santorum had precedent on his side when thinking upset. He pulled a stunner a few years earlier, capturing the 18th congressional district, eking passed seven-term Democratic incumbent Doug Walgren in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, long a Democratic foothold.
Santorum narrowly beat Wofford and earn a second term, before being tossed out in the Democratic revolution of 2006 that saw the Democrats recapture both the House and Senate and unfurl a red carpet in 2008 to the White House.
Santorum vs. Romney
In Iowa, Santorum listened and preached for nearly a year, crisscrossing the state, through more than 370 events.
On a shoestring budget that pales badly to Mitt Romney's funding machine, Santorum won't have the pounding-pavement luxury once the primaries move into multi-state affairs in February.
Over the next few weeks, Santorum must build on his newfound momentum, finish in the top three next week in New Hampshire and in South Carolina the week after if Conservative dollars are to find their way into his war chest.
Yet, more than Gingrich or Paul, Huntsman or Perry, Santorum has a compelling narrative as a yin to Romney's yang that the media will devour. Blue-collar Conservative versus white-collar Moderate.
This is the Achilles heel to Romney's seemingly inevitable Harvard-a-Harvard square dance with President Obama. With Iowa now in the past, Santorum must expand his voice, shift from the single note of social issues to the full scale of economic woes and solutions. He should tout his leading role in reforming welfare in the 1990s and accentuate his economic platform built on revitalizing America's industrial stomach versus Romney's Wall Street affair.
On the campaign trail, he no longer seems like the irreverent political youth of the early '90s. He listens more and time has softened his harsher instincts.
Santorum's story is about small businesses, about retailers like you. It's about the working class and the ground up, not Romney's skyscraper view and the economic top down.
At bedtime as a child, Santorum would listen to his father read the same story: The Little Engine That Could.
It's a mantra that worked in becoming a congressman and then senator. Will it work again to win the Republican nomination for president?
[Who do you like in the GOP primaries? Email your comments to Mitch Morrison at mmorrison@cspnet.com.]
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