Santorum isn’t sitting out

{mosads}”When I look at the Republican Party these days and who the quote ‘leaders’ are, I’m not particularly comfortable that they’re reflecting the values of conservatives … I try to pick my spots where my voice is needed.”

Cruz will be one other voice at the Family Leader event this weekend, already a popular voice among social and fiscal conservatives. But it’s likely that if Cruz fails to address the economic challenges of middle-income workers in a new way from the traditional rhetoric of the GOP, that Santorum will jump in. He told Byron York of The Washington Examiner that the reason his campaign succeeded, and he won the Iowa caucuses, is because he connected with people who are struggling, people who didn’t vote for Romney.

“That’s something none of these establishment Republicans understood. They didn’t understand why I was connecting, who I was connecting with. They had no clue. And they’re sitting here figuring out, ‘Well, we have to have Mitt Romney because Romney is the guy who can get the votes we need.’ Well what were the votes we needed in Ohio? What were the votes we needed in Michigan? They were the guys I connected with — who stayed home.”

If at least one of the other GOP candidates who is currently getting more attention than Santorum doesn’t start talking about how to help those voters he thinks aren’t getting enough attention, it isn’t likely Santorum will stay home.

WILL RECESS MOVE GOP VOTES ON IMMIGRATION? AskAB is on vacation, returning Tuesday Aug. 20. Please join my weekly video Q&A by sending your questions and comments to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com. Thank you.