Remarks in Las Vegas, Nevada Following the Florida Primary

Well, let me just get to that. First — the first thing I want to do, we're here in beautiful Las Vegas, and where the next primary caucus state is going to be here in Nevada, where I think we're going to have a little different result than what we saw in Florida.

But — but I first want to congratulate Governor Romney. He — he ran a very spirited race. And he is to be congratulated for his — his resounding victory in the state of Florida. So congratulations to Governor Romney.

And let me just make one side comment, because — it's not a side comment to me. It's a very important comment to me. I just want to say to — to everyone on behalf of Karen and of all of our family, you know, when we had to jump off the campaign trail to — to care for our — our daughter, Bella, it was a very trying time.

And, you know, this has been a, you know, pretty tough campaign. And the campaigns and things in politics have gotten pretty nasty, on both sides of the aisle, and certainly across the aisle. And I just have to say for — on behalf of our family and — and seeing the outpouring of support from folks, frankly, on both sides of the aisle — and from across this country of all political stripes — toward me and Karen, and particularly to our daughter, Bella, I just want to say to everyone, thank you for that support and for those prayers.

Bella had a tough couple of days. But she has — she has turned around. She is recovering. And she is going to go home tomorrow from the hospital.

So — so thank you. Well, thank you.

UNKNOWN: This is from the volunteers and the staff here in Nevada. It's a big giant stuffed elephant...

SANTORUM: Thank you very, very much. Thank you.

Well, thank you very much for that. And it is — it's great to be back here on the campaign trail, talking about the important issues of the day. And if that's — if there's one message that I think we got from the campaign in Florida is that Republicans can do better. We can do better than this. We can do better than the — the discussion and the — and the dialogue and the — and the accusations that were going on in the state of Florida. And — and, really, this campaign, you know, went downhill.

I went to Florida and, of course, participated in the debates. I thought we did a pretty good job in those debates. [cheers and applause]

SANTORUM: And while we didn't get into the melee of the negativism. As I said at that debate in Jacksonville on Thursday night. The American public does not want to see two or three candidates get into a mud -- you know, a mud wrestling match where everybody walks away dirty and not in a position to be able to represent our party proudly.

We're going to have differences on the issues. And we need to talk about those differences on the issues. But what we saw in the last few weeks in the state of Florida is not something that's going to help us win this election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. It's not.

SANTORUM: We need to -- and I said it, I'll say it again.

Governor Romney, you have every right to go out in the private sector and use the gifts that God has given you and the opportunities that you have and you made for yourself and your hard work and make all the money that you can and do it in a way that helps our economy and certainly helps you and your family.

And I'm not going to criticize you for doing that because that's how capitalism works, and I'm all for it. [cheers and applause]

SANTORUM: And Speaker Gingrich, you went out and you took the talents that you have, and they're considerable, and you took the effort and the hard work and the knowledge and experience you got from working at the highest levels of government, and went out and worked with companies who had concerns about a government that was trying to run over them in many cases.

And there's nothing wrong with that. And I congratulate you for the work that you did in support of those companies that deserve representation as they are entitled to under the First Amendment of our Constitution. And I'm not going to criticize you for that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SANTORUM: All right? [cheers and applause]

But let's put those issues behind us and let's focus on the real issue, which is defeating Barack Obama. [cheers and applause]

And we're not -- we're not going to do that by mudslinging. We're going to do it by talking about the issues that people at their kitchen tables are talking about. They're talking about their homes that are being foreclosed on. They're talking about jobs that are not available or the promotions that are not available or the opportunities to be able to start a business without the government breathing down their neck.

That's what people want to hear about and they want to know what your plans are and they want to know how you contrast yourself with President Obama when it comes to that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

SANTORUM: Well, that's what this campaign has been about for me and that's what it is going to be about here. Tomorrow, we're going to give a speech on Romney-care and Obama-care.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. [applause]

SANTORUM: We're going to talk about the issues that are important to the people of Nevada, the -- important to the people of Colorado and Minnesota, and Missouri. The states that are up next in this next go-around in the next week. That's what the issues that -- again, we need a candidate who can get up on the issues of health care and draw a clear contrast with President Obama. We need someone who can get up on the issue of cap and trade and government using environmentalism to be able to crush the businesses of our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. That's right.

SANTORUM: And draw a clear contrast with President Obama. We need someone on the issue of Wall Street and the bailouts and all of the --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. [cheers]

SANTORUM: Here in Nevada, they've suffered. They've suffered while the folks -- while the folks in Wall Street have prospered, the people here who had the -- had the loans that are under water continued to suffer while those who are buying and selling for profit bad paper continued to get bailed out by Washington, D.C. and approved of by Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SANTORUM: All right? So we need someone who can draw that contrast. We need someone who can be a conservative nominee.

And you know what, in Florida, Newt Gingrich had his opportunity. He came out of the state of South Carolina, he came out with a big -- with a big win and a lot of money. And he said, I'm going to be the conservative alternative. I'm going to be the anti-Mitt. And it didn't work. He became the issue. We can't allow our nominee to be the issue in the campaign. [cheers and applause]

SANTORUM: So I say -- I say to the people of Nevada, in fact, to the people across this country, if you want a strong principled conservative who is not going to be the issue in the campaign, who's going to make Barack Obama the issue in this campaign, please vote for me and help us out. [cheers and applause]

Thank you, God bless, thank you. Thank you. [cheers and applause]