Santorum Talks Contraception and Obamacare at CPAC

Washington, D.C. - After being introduced by SuperPAC benefactor Foster Friess, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum took the podium here surrounded by his family and delievered a speech that went after both his nearest rival for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney, and President Obama. Santorum, coming off three major-but-delegate-free victories in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, talked briefly about fiscal matters, but eventually returned to his bread and butter: social issues. He really drove things home with his red meat comments about Obamacare. 

"We've seen the president of the United States tell what insurance coverage you should have, how much you are going to pay, how much you will be fined if you don't. He's now telling the Catholic Church that they are forced to pay for things that are against their basic tennants and teachings," Santorum said after comparing Obamacare to the National Health Service of Great Britian. 

Santorum excited the crowd but it was not at the rock star level you would expect from somebody with so much momentum at his back. His only standing ovation during the entire speech came when he talked about social issues, in particular the Obama administration's moves on contraception. 

"Ladies and gentleman, this is the type of coercion we can expect. It's not about contraception. It's about economic liberty, it's about freedom of speech, it's about freedom of religion, it's about government control of your lives and it's got to stop," he said, bringing the crowd to its feet. 

Last night Public Policy Polling tweeted that they have a new poll in the field and it shows Rick Santorum is, again, the front-runner nationally for the Republican nomination.