Even as a number of pundits - along with Newt Gingrich - keep urging Rick Santorum to hang up his election cleats, the former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania says now is not the time for him to give up and go home.
"There's going to be a big surprise" on Saturday, Santorum told backers at the Beacon Drive-In Restaurant in Spartanburg.
In his remarks, Santorum hit Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul repeatedly, trying to argue that he is most reliable conservative left in the race.
"Unlike everybody else in this race, I have a strong, solid, principled track record," Santorum said proudly.
"I get a big kick out of Mitt Romney," Santorum said about the candidate whom he supported four years ago, but now tears down on a daily basis.
"Newt supported an individual mandate," Santorum opined about Gingrich and why he's not the best candidate.
"My view of the Constitution is different than Ron Paul," Santorum said of the Texas Congressman.
"I'm not the flashiest guy in the room," Santorum admitted, but he told his backers that he is by far the "best candidate for the fall election."
Santorum also turned up the heat with a new video attacking Gingrich, Paul and Romney, which you can see here:
Santorum will hold a news conference today with conservative leader Tony Perkins, who helped engineer the endorsement of Santorum by a series of evangelical groups.
"Take a sign," Santorum told the crowd in Spartanburg, asking for their support.
"Take a bumper sticker; it will peel off real easily after the primary," he said to laughs.
Santorum was very aggressive on Monday night in the GOP debate - there's no reason to think he won't do the same on Thursday night in Charleston.
