The TicketIowa evangelical leaders back Santorum, but their group remains neutral
A prominent conservative group in Iowa will remain neutral ahead of next month's Republican presidential caucuses after its leaders struggled to agree over which candidate to endorse in the race.
The Family Leader announced Tuesday it would not formally back any of the Republican presidential contenders. But Bob Vander Plaats, the influential social conservative who heads up the group, announced he was offering a "personal endorsement" of Rick Santorum.
The former Pennsylvania senator also picked up a "personal" endorsement from Chuck Hurley, head of the Iowa Family Policy Center—an affiliate of the Family Leader.
"I am thrilled about the board's unanimous decision to remain true as a standard bearer while providing a voice of leadership through Chuck and me," Vander Plaats said in a statement emailed to reporters.
The Family Leader had been one of the most hard-sought endorsements in Iowa given its influence over "values" voters in the state, who could very well determine the outcome of next month's Republican caucuses.
But the back and forth among the group's members over its endorsement quickly become a larger indication of how divided social conservatives are ahead of January's vote.
Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Ron Paul have been working hard to become the frontrunner among social conservatives in the state--appeals that have only split the influential voting bloc further.
As it began endorsement deliberations last month, the Family Leader eliminated Paul, Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain from consideration—a move that irked some members of the group who were unhappy to see Gingrich, a two-time divorcee who has admitted to cheating on his previous wives, still on the list.
In recent weeks, Vander Plaats and the leaders of other conservative groups in the state met to talk about offering a unified endorsement, in hopes of preventing a divided vote that could benefit Romney on caucus day. But those talks quickly collapsed amid debate over which candidate the groups would back.
"I didn't like the direction they were going," Steve Scheffler, an influential Republican National Committee member who left the talks, told Yahoo News earlier this month. He and his group, the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, subsequently announced they would remain neutral in the race.
In recent days, rumors suggested Vander Plaats, a former Republican guberantorial hopeful who is close to Gingrich, might back the former House speaker—prompting activists to openly question whether his endorsement was being influenced by moral convictions or politics.
Vander Plaats' decision to back Santorum will be a test of the conservative leader's influence among values voters in the state, who have been divided over whether agreeing with a candidate is more important than choosing someone who is most electable.
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