MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Pennsylvania Senator and current Presidential candidate Rick Santorum visited Montgomery Monday morning to discuss his opposition of the Fast-Track trade powers proposed by President Obama.
Speaking at MMI Outdoor, a manufacturer of tents and backpacks that sells to the US Department of Defense, Santorum said “This is a president that’s shown he’s not transparent, he’s not letting anyone really see the agreement, [he’s] not really incorporating any real input from the Congress, and he’s including a lot of extraneous things that don’t belong in a trade deal.”
Headquartered in Montgomery, MMI employs 24 people in their Alabama manufacturing facility. The company also sells commercial products manufactured in China, Vietnam and South Korea.
Company CEO David Cobb is currently undecided on his presidential pick. But if Santorum were to win the nomination, Cobb says that he would have his vote.
Santorum returned to Alabama as part of his grassroots campaign to build a nationwide network of voters.
“You can’t just win an early state and expect all will go well,” the candidate said. “You’ve got to build a national organization, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re building a national organization, and Alabama is one of the states we can and will win.”
In his 2012 challenge to eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney, Santorum won 11 primary states, including Alabama. This time around the Yellowhammer State will once again be key to his success as he continues to target socially conservative voters.
In light of Alabama’s ongoing same-sex marriage legal saga, Santorum wished to show respect to voters in a state that shares his beliefs. “There are a lot of people with strong convictions as to what the institution of marriage is,” he said. “There are churches (and) nonprofit organizations that in America should have the right to exercise their freedom like anybody else.”
On top of his well-established positions on social issues, Santorum brings a brand of economic populism to an ever expanding pool of Republican presidential hopefuls.
During his visit with MMI, he laid out the beginnings of a plan that would raise the Federal minimum wage. Using incremental increases of 50 cents, Santorum would like to see a minimum wage at $8.75, $1.50 higher than the current standard. When facing questions about how far he was willing to go on wage standards, Santorum responded by opposing the $15 mark heralded by many democrats but insisted that the principle is one of “basic government protection Republicans in the past have supported.”
Alabama’s 2016 primary will be March 1 as part of the so-called SEC Primary.
