Greg Rothman On The Santorum 2012 campaign

The French phrase “qu’il n’y avoit point de heros pour les valets de chambre“ in English means “No man is a hero to his valet.” Beginning with his first trip to New Hampshire in April 2010, I traveled regularly across the country with Rick Santorum on his remarkable campaign for president. I spent nearly every day with him in 2012.

I met Rick before his first improbable political victory in 1990. We were both in the Young Republicans. I supported him during his even less likely election to the U.S. Senate in 1994. But it was during and after his humbling loss in 2006 that we became friends. He didn’t have to ask me to drop everything to travel with him on his presidential campaign, I volunteered.

I was the omnipresent aide holding his phone or handing him a Sharpie or hand sanitizer. In the car, I sat beside or behind him handling calls and keeping information flowing between his “very small, dedicated and super smart team” as The New York Times called us.

It was my responsibility to keep him on time (he doesn’t wear a watch) and to make sure we had food (after a year traveling together, he told me he doesn’t really like cold sandwiches) in the car or on the plane.

I was called the “body man” or his “right-hand.” His exceptional daughter, Elizabeth, introduced me as “he’s like an uncle or a big brother.” The delightful media embeds called me “Senior Friend” or “Best Friend in Chief.”

From my position, I was able to see what made him tick. His personal creed was his campaign slogan: faith, family and freedom. His faith is genuine and central to his life. His wife, Karen, was like oxygen to him. He called her after every speech and event. Rick doesn’t have pollsters or speechwriters, but he seeks and takes advice from everyone. No adviser was consulted more than his wife and children.

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