Newly retired presidential candidate Rick Santorum, in his first television interview since suspending his campaign on Tuesday, said on Fox News that his one regret is giving the impression he’s “an angry, temperamental guy,” when actually he’s fun to go bowling with.
“Talk to anyone on my staff, my kids. That’s just not who I am,” Santorum told talk show host Greta Van Sustern late Thursday. “I am a passionate guy, and I can get pretty amped up and passionate. But I think I’m a pretty good guy to have around, to have a beer with or go bowling with. … When you’re out there fighting for big things, you’ve got to put on the armor and go.”
Asked about a potential endorsement for likely nominee Mitt Romney, Santorum said he had yet to speak “with the people still in the race,” which include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, neither of which has a realistic chance of winning the nomination. He indicated he may be looking for a role in the fall campaign, saying “one way or another, we’re going to stay active and involved.”
The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania said he harbored no resentment against Romney, despite the avalanche of negative ads the Romney campaign ran against him in key primary states. “This was not my first rodeo,” Santorum said. “I have been battered and bruised in campaigns in the past. We went through this with great spirit, felt good the whole way.”
Santorum also declined to rule out a possible second run for president in the future. “There are a lot of issues I feel very deeply about that I think we introduced into the debate, and the values I talked about are the ones that resonate,” he said.