Crowd Goes Wild For Santorum At CPAC

Rick Santorum gave one of the strongest speeches of his presidential campaign on Friday, repeatedly bringing a crowd of influential conservatives to its feet.

In his remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Santorum drew sharp contrasts between himself and both President Obama and Mitt Romney, although he didn't mention the former Massachusetts governor by name.

But he did attack Obama for his controversial mandate requiring religiously affiliated institutions to cover contraception — a move that infuriated conservatives.

“Government will own you because you will have to pay tribute to Washington in order to get the care you need for your children,” the former Pennsylvania senator said. “The major reason I’m in this race is because I believe ObamaCare is a game-changer for America.

“We've seen the president of the United States not only tell you what insurance coverage you should have, how much you’re going to pay, how much you’re going to be fined if you don’t, but now he's telling the Catholic Church that they are forced to pay for things that are against their basic tenets and teachings, against their First Amendment right,” he said, framing the issue not just as a religious one but one of personal freedom.

“This is the kind of coercion that we expect,” Santorum added. “It’s not about contraception. It's about economic liberty. It's about freedom of speech. It's about government coercion. It's about government control of your lives and it's got to stop!”

The audience roared to its feet — the standing ovation lasted a full 30 seconds.

The large banquet hall was at maximum capacity. Hundreds of people were stuck outside, leading to protestations as the crowd in the halls demanded to be let in to hear Santorum. Police had to tightly control the crowd in order to keep calm, blocking exits and forcing people out of doorframes as nervous volunteers looked on.

“A conservative, a liberal and a moderate walked into a bar. The bartender says, ‘Hi, Mitt!’ ” he joked in his introduction.

The line drew hearty laughs and applause with only scattered boos, indicating the former Massachusetts governor will likely have a hard sell with the crowd when he speaks later on Friday.

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