(Image source: CNN)
BY ZACH TOOMBS
GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum got a rude reception Thursday in New Hampshire -- getting into a verbal sparring match -- with some college students -- over same-sex marriage.
CNN has the exchange.
SANTORUM: “So, anyone can marry anybody else?”
STUDENT: “Yes.”
SANTORUM: “OK, so anybody can marry anybody else?”
STUDENT: “Yes.”
SANTORUM: “So, anyone can marry several people? Oh, wait a minute! Woah, woah, woah -- stop. This is not participatory. We’re not going to do this.”
After he equated same-sex marriage with polygamy, much of the crowd turned on Santorum, eventually booing the former senator off stage.
[Boos mixed with applause]
The back-and-forth over same-sex marriage represents a larger obstacle Santorum faces in New Hampshire -- as he tries to translate momentum from his near-victory in evangelical Iowa into success in the more moderate Granite State.
NECN interviewed one of the students who challenged Santorum.
“I’m a gay male, and I don’t see that my interests of wanting to marry another man or engage with that relationship should be dictated by these notions.”
Santorum also took criticism from many pundits for equating same-sex marriage to polygamy, a move that at first seems like a shot at his Mormon opponents in the state - former governors Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. But making the connection between those two issues is nothing new for Santorum.
Politico writes he made the same case against same-sex marriage during his doomed Senate campaign for re-election in 2006.
“[Santorum argued] legalizing gay marriage could result in future protections for polygamy, incest and bestiality ... Santorum never made apologies for his brand of brash conservatism or his perceived missteps, and he rarely re-calibrated. That wasn’t his style. And Pennsylvania, in 2006, no longer wanted him."
Despite the trouble in Concord, Santorum received a warmer reception later that night in Windham. The former senator will continue his efforts in the state until its primary Jan. 10.
