have with us today republican presidential candidate senator rick santorum. you know him well, he's been in iowa seems like the last four years straight, but maybe not. a former two-term united states senator from the state of pennsylvania, also former congressman for that state. remember, he won the most recent iowa republican caucus four years ago in 2012. he also won 11 primaries or caucuses that year, finishing second to eventually republican nominee mitt romney. senator santorum, as you know, as social conservative, a roman clear lake, married to his -- catholic, married to his karen for 27 years. and a big thank you to iowa state republicans wolf rogers of cedar falls for helping to line up this interview. >> santorum: he's my state chairman and he told me i had to be hero -- to be here. >> ron: i'm sad he said that. you have taken again the very successful campaign play of

99 counties and you're did go -- >> santorum: already done it. been 200 visits, town hall type meetings in the state and a lot more to do between now and february 1st. >> ron: we'll get into some questioning here in a second, but what is that like? >> santorum: i love it. i did three town halls today already and as we tape, this it's 15 to 30 people generally is the number that we get at those, and you say, wow, that's a lot of work for a few people, but you know, if you can go to a county and you can sign up, you know, four or five, six caucus chairman, which means you have six people going to the caucuses in those counties and many of these counties, ounl most of the 99 counties are smaller counties, but if you can get that and build that kind of organization, you know, over 50% of the people who voted for me last time in the caucus decided the last three days of the caucus. >> ron: exactly. >> santorum: and a third of them decided on caucus night and i

think a lot of it was because we had people there that had met me, knew me, and said let me tell you about this guy and why i'm supporting him and it had a big impact. >> ron: and sometimes polls and caucus night turn out differently. i know you have had large crowds, you lad about a half dozen recently in grundy center. i remember reading in 2012, you had one person show up one time, but that's the unique thing about the iowa caucus, that they can get up close and personal to people who may be the president of the united states. who's the real rick santorum, what are you hoping to accomplish? >> santorum: people say why are you doing this again and i look at the situation in this country, obviously coming forward here recently, the national security situation and when i was in the united states senate, i realized how dangerous this world has become and how radical islam was on the rise and unless we confronted it and dealt with it, that this was

problem for the west. not just for america, but for the west. i saw a president that was ignoring it and i saw a lot of republicans who were walking away saying we need to become more isolationist and one of the reasons i decided to step back into the fray is there really isn't any other conservative in the race who has any kind of national security credentials loo, can stand up and do what ronald reagan did back in the '80s, which is to confront the enemy and the enemy knows you mean business. why? because you've been at this for a long time. reagan was a virulent anti-communist, anti-soviet union speaker on the stomp for years, for decades, and i've done the same thing when it comes to isis and iran and other radical groups. that's a very important aspect to bring to the table. that's one reason, and there are a lot of hers, but the most current is the threat to our national security.

through iowa, calling it the security through strength tour and it comes at a time when the world is obviously still reeling with what happened with the obviously very planned, six or seven attacks in paris, so security through strength, what exactly are you saying? it's a catchy phrase, no doubt about it, but what does it really mean? >> santorum: it hearkens back to peace through strength with ronald reagan and the fact of the matter is these are evil forces that are not going to be negotiated with. you're not going to be able to placate these radical groups by making nice to them. they only respect one thing. these are groups that are dedicated on conquering the world and convincing -- and imposing siria law and radical islam on the world. i don't say it because i believe it. i say it because they believe it. that's what they're saying, they're very clear about what they want to accomplish and we have to take that threat seriously and we have not. this president has not taken it seriously and many republicans

the last several years have the no taken it seriously and i thought it was important to go out there and articulate a vision that if we want to be safe, if we don't want what happened in paris, what happened in this country, you know, several years, and it's happened -- we've had isolated attacks here in america and if we don't want other mass attacks here in the united states of america, we have to defeat the enemy where they are and isis is a serious threat. iran is even a bigger threat because of their ability to get a nuclear weapon thanks to this president and the agreement he put together. both of these are direct threats to the security of the people of iowa, not just the people of the united states. >> ron: the words dangerous, reckless, uneducated, that was the title of a piece that you wrote, that you sent to iowarepublican.com, responding to say there were no other words i can think of to better describe what barack obama is trying to accomplish by bringing

shores -- refugees to our shore. you and many republicans are seriously against that. explain that again that it's not a matter of compassion, but national security. >> santorum: there's two reasons i laid and i've laid it out for a matter of several months. i talked about this months ago when they were a lot of folks in the republican party saying we should accept them, it's the humanitarian thing to do. i had two objections, number one, that isis is driving these people out of syria and they're not driving them out and 70% of the people who are the refugees are able-bodied young males. that's not your typical refugee group, and so i said at the time, there's something going on here that we have to pay serious attention to and i'm guaranteeing you there are terrorists in these folks, in these groups that are infiltrating in with everybody else. and that we cannot be allowing people to come into this country or i said even to western europe because of that.

the second reason is maybe not so obvious, but i do believe a lot of people, most of the people who are leaving, are not terrorists. most of the people are being driven out, many of them are christians -- >> ron: a lot of them are christians, yes. >> santorum: christians, ethic minorities, modern muslims who isis want stop drive out of the reason, but we should not be bringing those people into this country, christians included, why? because when we do, we basically let isis win. they want them out of their region to they can control the area. they want to eliminate christianity. if you talk to the clerics in the middle east, they are pleading for people not to go to america, not to go to europe, to stay in the region so they can relocate back and keep the roots of christianity, which in some cases, these are 2,000-year-old christian communities, keen the roots of christianity in the

of some of these other ethnic minorities in the middle east. we're helping isis accomplish what they want if we relocate those people here because they'll never go home. for the long-term future of that region, we need to help relocate them, help support the relocation camps and relocating them into other cities in the region, but we should not under any circumstances bring them here. >> ron: we're going to take a short break. we're moving along rather quickly. time flies when you're having a good time, but we're online pretty shortly here today on this sunday on kwwl.com.

>> ron: welcome back now with senator rick santorum, our guest this week for the entire program here on the steele report. you know, the scary thing, senator, for so many americans is that we know the names, but we really don't know who the enemy is. we hear isis, al-qaeda, islamic revolution guard, boek ka har ram, and it's scary not knowing and we saw that with the sarn my yef brothers. they can live in a community, blend in and all of a sudden strap a bomb on and blow somebody up. >> santorum: when you talk about only a few of these folks are radical and violent. what matters is what is their theology, what do they believe? unfortunately because of saudi arabia and their enormous welt, they have developed islamic schools that teach a radical form or seventh century form of

islam, and increasingly, the entire middle east and europe where these schools are and even in america where some of these schools are, are teaching youth this fundamentalist view, this radical view. now, you can argue they don't teach violence, but if you ask most of them, most unfortunately -- most of the people in the middle east, whether theologically if they agree with isis, they may not agree, they may not be for the beheading, but as far as what they believe in, the imposition of sharia law, they support that. they just don't support how isis is going about making it happen, but once you support the underlying premise, it's not too had to radicalize and turn that supporter into someone who is violent, and that's what we sea happening. >> ron: i want to talk now about

iowans are -- they love the personal touch, so to speak, of the caucuses. you're not doing well in the polls this time. you're not -- obviously, you might be concerned behind the scenes, but outwardly you're saying you're not too concerned. >> santorum: i'm pretty much in the same position four years ago. >> ron: why is donald trump polling so well? he got over 18% as a third party candidate against the establishment type of thing. is that what's happening with donald trump? why is he doing so well? how do you get around that? >> santorum: obviously he's touched a nerve of people and people are angry and they're looking for someone or something to sort of punch back and fight back. there's one thing donald is pretty good at, he's a pretty good pugilist, he punches back. i think ultimately i'm trusting the people of iowa to sort this out and what i've seen in the

fast that is iowans -- in the past is that ans take their time -- iowans take their time, put a lot of people on the dance card, but ultimately they make a decision who the best person for president is. when that's decided, they can look at someone who they can trust. that's the most important thing, can you trust them, are they authentic and are they someone who will go to washington, d.c., and shake things up and have a record of success. if you're looking for that, i think the choice is going to be narrowed down to a very small group of candidates, which i'm one of, and i'm hopeful that experience in the end will not be a bad thing. success in both your political life as well as passing conservative things in washington, d.c., will not be a negative in the end. that it will be a positive. particularly at times -- it's really interesting. people are frustrated because they send people to washington and they don't do what they say they're going to do. well, one of the reasons is because most of the people you send to washington, particularly congressman, don't have a record. they're people from the

community and who run for congress and you get upset because they don't know what they say they're going to do. the best way to determine that is look at their record and if they don't have a record, it's hard to judge them. i have a record and i'm very proud of that being a conservative. i had chuck grassley introduce me in osceola the other day and he said the best thing i can say about rick santorum is i've known him for 20 years and he hasn't changed yet. you look for someone who can stay principled and fight for those principles and who can win and succeed in washington, that's what we bring to the table. >> ron: i think the chairman of the national republican party would like to eliminate the power that the first four states that, new hampshire, iowa, nevada and south carolina. i'd like you to tell people how you really feel about the iowa caucuses. do they deserve the kind of recognition and influence that they do carry or is this

something that's past its time? >> santorum: i wouldn't be running if it wasn't for the iowa caucuses. >> ron: they carried you well. >> santorum: they did and i had my faith in the people of iowa that they would do their job, and that is to look at candidates, see what they believe in, see authentic they are, how truthful they were. all of those things, you're not going to have that if you're running -- the first race is in california. it's going to be a media campaign. it's all about television commercials, all about pundits and not about actual americans looking in the eyes of the candidates and being able to determine who's the best person. and that's -- iowans take that very seriously, i know they do, and i respect that. if it wasn't for iowa, i would say that, you know, the campaign would be decided on who raises the most money from the biggest givers in new york tan los angeles and san francisco. and they'll decide who the president is. i don't think that's a good thing for this country. it's certainly not a good thing for the republican party and

conservatives and iowa gives a chance for, you know, the under-funded candidate who's not a favorite of the establishment to have a chance. and so in this election cycle, i can see why the chairman of the party and the powers that be don't want iowa because they want to be able to choose the president. but i want you to be able to choose the president. >> ron: do you feel religion is under fire everywhere in america now? >> santorum: you look at what's happening to business owners who now, you know, cross the orthodoxy of the secular left. you look at what's going on on college campuses. they used to -- back in the '60s, there was a cry for freedom of speech and now they're saying no freedom of speech. we want our orthodoxy, we don't want any dissenting voices, we don't want faith. it used to be faith is stifling us and we can't speak, and, of course, that was ridiculous, but the point is we've had a period of time in iowa because of our

respected the dignity of every person and their ability to speak freely, write freely, be on tv and speak freely, how we're seeing the left, now that they've gotten control of things, clamping down and saying there should be no dissent and if you're a business person, you have to do what's against your religious principles because we know what's right. yes, religion is under assault in america. in between times when i ran for company. >> santorum: and two years ago we put together a movie called "one generation away," which is a documentary on religious liberty. i'm passionate about this, that america is losing the essence of who we are, which is the right to believe what you believe and to be able to live that and speak that. if we don't have someone who's -- these things are -- these things go away, these things are taken from you if you don't fight for them and let me assure you, i will fight for

>> ron: the end of life case of terry schiavo is at an anniversary here. >> santorum: i remember it like it was yesterday and jeb bush to his credit really fought hard because the family wanted to care for their daughter. they were perfectly willing to pay the expenses and do whatever was necessary to care for their daughter and someone who had moved on, her husband moved on and been remarried and moved on, didn't want that burden of having her there, and, you know, i took it as a -- this is something if we're taking someone's life, and that's what was going on, at least if you're doing a capital murder case, the supreme court has the right to review that case. you go through the state system and because if it's a murder case, it's usually a state court and you go to the state supreme court and they say, okay, he's guilty and then you take it to the federal court and the

we're very, very cautious about ordering the taking of innocent human life, or taking the guilty human life, much less the taking of innocent human life. but in this case, there was no federal review and they were just going to let the state court make that decision. that's not fair, you do this for a criminal, why not do it for a young woman or her family and for ben carson or anyone to say that was much ado about nothing, it's much ado about the respect for all human life and to at least have our court system have a role in making sure something isn't done unjustly. >> ron: we'll take one more break and come back with senator

to win the iowa caucuses on if. >> ron: welcome back to our final segment of this week's edition of the steele report. our special guest, of course, senator rick santorum, republican presidential candidate. one thing about the iowa caucuses, people like to understand the personal lives of other kaernts. you and your family and your wife went through the hardest thing that can happen, you lost a child, and i would like you to put into words if you can what that meant to you as far as how it shaped who you are today compared to when this happened and was your faith tested or was it strengthened by what happened there? >> santorum: yes, it was tested and strengthened, ultimately,

we have a son who -- karen was carrying our child and he was 20 weeks gestation, halfway through the process, we found out he had a fatal defect and he would not survive birth. that's what we were told. we didn't take that lying down. we actually had intrauterine surgery done and did everything we could to try to save his life and because of the surgery, she got an infection and went into labor because the infection was the womb and so the body was expelling the infection and that's why she went into labor and he was born and lived just about two hours and had the opportunity to hold him and to slowly watch him pass away. there was for no -- no way we could save him, he was way too young and his lungs were not developed and it put my life in perspective like it never has because you think about living your life as a father as a husband and your -- your object is to raise your children, raise them as good souls, to raise

them to orient themselves towards christ and to heaven. you know, your goal is -- you're a successful dad if you get your kids into heaven. that's the way i looked at it, and that became a reality to me, that all that matters in the end is the end. so as a dad who wants their kids to do well in school and achieve, i got a lot more laid back on that and started to focus on what was really important in their lives which is, you know, the ultimate test of what your life is about. were you a good and faithful servant and did you serve the lord? and so yeah, it was a painful lesson, but in looking at gabriele's life, the great comfort i got after the pain is i know he's with the lord and in the end, that's all that matters. >> ron: the point i was trying to make is you're someone who's been there and know wlap that loss is all about. >> santorum: we had another little girl, many of you know our daughter bella who was born and we were told she was going

four days after she was born, we were told she was only going to live a few hours or a few days and we've gone through that process and because of respiratory infection, she did have her heart stop and her breathing stop, and we had to bring her back to life. our life has not been a bed of roses necessarily, but like every family, every family has its challenges and moments like that. >> ron: you're just like everybody else. that's what you're saying. >> santorum: you have seven kids and you've lost a child and you've gone through these, let me assure you, there are very few families that escape the hardship that comes and we deal with it not just with our daughter bell lark but all of our -- bella, but all other kids. it's tough growing up in the world today. it's not a very friendly place to raise children in america today and we all suffer the consequences of it. >> ron: i've always said for one goes unscathed.

drop out already, rick perry, and scott walker favored and bobby jindal. have you in any way thought about writing iowa off? >> santorum: gosh no. you got to get to the start line, right? you can't say you've run a race unless you get to the start line and we're going on give the people of iowa every opportunity to do the right thing like they did last time and put forth -- >> ron: show their wisdom. >> santorum: people say iowa got it wrong last time. no, you didn't. the person you pick in my opinion would have beat barack obama. and that reminds me, every vote counts. >> ron: it sure does. >> santorum: eight votes was the difference between me being announced the winner on caucus night and announced the loser. that had a big impact obviously on the race because we weren't declared the winner until three weeks later when no one was really paying any attention. i'm hopeful this time around, we

can have a good clean victory here in iowa and i know people say, he's sitting way back in the polls, what's he talking about victory? i was way back in the polls then too. the last register pom said 88% of iowans have not made up their nine yet so there's still a long way to go between now and february 1st and ultimately i'll trust the people who takes someone who knows what they're doing, has a record of success and can win this election to go up against hillary clinton and go toe-to-toe and battle her. >> ron: and not be a part of the circus. >> santorum: that's one thing i did four years ago. newt gingrich and mitt romney and rick perry pounded each other, and the only person that made happy was barack obama. i'm not going to do what other candidates have done because all it does is undermine the character and credibility of your fellow republican and i just -- i'm just not into that. >> ron: 30 seconds, you said this is not an entry-level position. what qualifies you that the people of iowa need to know to be president? >> santorum: i have a long track

record of conservative success of winning tough elections in tough states like fa and if we're going to win this election, we have to win the rough stuff. i'm the guy with the credentials to be able to take that on and help me. i can carry the football to the end zone. republican candidate for president. thank you very much for taking the time to be on the steele report this week and i really appreciate that. also online on kwwl.com. we'll see you next week.

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