Four Republican Candidates Attempt To Reach Out From Underdog Debate Platform

Former Pennsylvania Senator and 2012 Iowa Caucus winner Rick Santorum answers questions from the media after expressing his displeasure about Fox News and other media outlets at Thursday nights debate. (Oskaloosa News photo)

Des Moines, Iowa – The last two winners of the Iowa Caucus were on stage together in what is billed as the undercard debate.

Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina and Jim Gilmore made up the first hour long debate.

Santorum rebuffed Fox News and took the network to task about what he perceives as bias from the media and a lack of equal coverage.

Santorum, who had said he would visit the Donald Trump event after the first debate. and then questioned by moderators about his motives, said he was going to help raise money for veterans since “I’m not doing anything at 9 o’clock.”

The analytics of the debate, provided by Google, showed internet searches in Iowa during the first segment focused on Fiorina and Santorum.

Fiorina and Santorum were in Oskaloosa this past week, and each candidate picked up potential caucus goers while there.

The retail politicking that is important for voters allows Iowans to shake the hand of a candidate, looking them in the eye and asking them tough questions.

Governor Gilmore took aim at the media as well, saying that the media has helped to frame the debate in an attempt to bring forward the candidates they choose.

Charges were also leveled against Fox News in the past in regards to Mitt Romney.

Fiorina once again had the most searches during the 2nd segment, and came out during the 3rd segment taking aim at Hillary Clinton, saying that if her husband acted like Bill Clinton, she would have left her husband long ago. She went on to say, “Hillary Clinton cannot be the President of the United States.”

After the first debate was over Santorum entered the spin room and shared some of his thoughts about the level of coverage available to some candidates and not others during the caucus cycle. “Sort of an outrage for the people of Iowa, that you have a media that tries to predetermine the race before the people of Iowa vote,” said Santorum to journalists gathered around him after the first debate.

“I know the people of Iowa take this much more seriously than the national media does,” Santorum said of the process of picking candidates at the Iowa Caucus. “They are going to look at the issues and decide based upon those issues.”

Republican presidential hopeful and former Governor of Virginia Jim Gilmore has bypassed campaigning in Iowa, and instead has focused his efforts on New Hampshire. Without money to provide the resources to campaign in Iowa, “I love the people of Iowa, and if I had 5 million dollars I would participate in Iowa and win, but I have to make a choice.”

Gilmore, who was part of the first Republican debate, wasn’t part of the others until Thursday night’s debate. He agreed with Santorum saying, “How am I going to get national poll numbers when I’m not having an opportunity to expose my ideas.”

Gilmore expressed his displeasure with the moderators early on in the debate, believing he wasn’t being treated the same as the other candidates. “I’ve seen this before. It’s not just me, I’ve seen it before. There’s a tendency to favor the stylish and the fashionable, and I’m the new guy. I had to come in and make it very clear that I wasn’t going to be a second fiddle or a second place citizen in this debate.”