http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/rick-santorum-iowa-event-one-voter-turnout-118774.html?hp=l2_4One voter shows up at Santorum event in Iowa
By Nick Gass
6/9/15 8:07 AM EDT
At first, one was the loneliest number for Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Monday.
Just one Iowan showed up at 2 p.m. campaign stop Monday at a restaurant in the unincorporated community of Hamlin, population 300, according to a report from The Des Moines Register — Peggy Toft, an insurance agent who chairs the county’s Republican Party.
Eventually, there were four Iowans gathered at Santorum’s table (not counting photographers and campaign aides), where the 2016 hopeful lunched on a breaded tenderloin with a side of onion rings.
Santorum told the Register that the low turnout was not surprising, but that it is all a part of the plan.
“It’s not glamorous, and you’re not out there raising money, but you’re doing what the money is ultimately supposed to do — getting votes,” Santorum told the Register. “This is a lot more fun than being on the phone raising money.”
While posing for photos outside Darrell’s Place, Santorum called the event a success, emphasizing the importance of every vote in the caucus system.
“People don’t understand. One guy in there said, ‘I’ll speak for you at the caucus,’” Santorum said. “That’s maybe eight votes that you wouldn’t otherwise get. Eight votes can make a big difference, as I know.”
In 2011, Santorum visited all 99 counties in Iowa, a tour chronicled by the 2013 documentary “Caucus,” he noted.
The lunch stopover in Hamlin came during the former Pennsylvania senator’s latest swing through the crucial early-primary state, where he narrowly prevailed over Mitt Romney by just 34 votes in the 2012 caucus.
He drew a slightly larger crowd in nearby Panora, Iowa, when 10 people showed up to ask him questions about his positions at a telecommunications company.
