Weigel

Romney: Which Team is Santorum Taking It For?

PHOENIX – Mitt Romney gave the Associated Builders and Contractors a small gift: A new attack line against Rick Santorum, freshly pressed from the debate. When the senator said he “took one for the team” on No Child Left Behind, he revealed that he didn’t stick to principles.

“I wonder which team he was taking it for,” joked Romney. “My team will be the people of the United States of America.”

It was good line for a friendly crowd, one that doesn’t typically endorse candidates unless the choice is stark. (ABC members endorsed George W. Bush in 2000.) When the speech was over I talked to two ABC members from Pennsylvania, to learn the depth of their contempt of Rick Santorum.

“He doesn’t have a good report card on our issues,” said Jack Zimmer, a staffer at ABC’s PAC in the Keystone state. He wasn’t convinced when Santorum said he’d learned his lessons? “Talk is cheap,” he said. “He says he’s a social conservative, and that’s true, but he’s not good on economics.”

Dave Nace, a builder from Lancaster, Pa., tried to describe just how bad Santorum had been on labor issues, and how adamant he’d been. “I was at the meetings,” he said, remembering how builders tried to drag Santorum into the conversion tent. “They weren’t good meetings.”