Santorum delays candidacy decision

CHARLESTON -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum seems in no hurry to make a decision about running for the Republican presidential nomination and acknowledged that a decision by Sarah Palin to enter the race would "take a lot of air out of the room."

Santorum, a favorite among the social conservatives who could be expected to flock to a Palin bid, told The Associated Press on Monday that a decision would come "some time in the next year. You try to hold off as long as you can."

Santorum was wrapping up a two-day visit to Charleston as part of his seventh trip to the state before South Carolina's first-in-the-South GOP primary in 2012.

"I'm getting here. I'm getting feelers on whether people think that what I'm saying, what I'm thinking, what I'm doing and what I've done is something they could get behind and be supportive of," he said.

He said the former Alaska governor is a "larger-than-life figure" among potential GOP candidates with all the media attention she has garnered.

"If she decides to get into the race, she will take a lot of air out of the room, that's for sure," said Santorum, who served in both the House and Senate from Pennsylvania. He was defeated for re-election to the Senate in 2006 by Democrat Bob Casey.

Last week, hundreds of people waited at a Columbia bookstore as Palin signed copies of her book "America by Heart." By contrast Santorum on Monday spoke to a group of about 30 at a luncheon sponsored by the Charleston County Republican Party.

The previous evening, Santorum spoke at a dinner honoring outgoing S.C. U.S. Reps. Gresham Barrett and Henry Brown as well as outgoing Indiana U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, a graduate of The Citadel in Charleston.

Santorum said both he and Palin have challenges in a presidential race.

"She is such a media star, I would think it's hard for her to have normal interactions" with voters, Santorum said.

"I have my own challenges, and that's getting the crowd. Her problem isn't getting the crowd, it's sort of having more real time with people," he said. "I get plenty of real time, and that lower profile works for me in a way that I can go do things that are just going to be harder for her."

"It's not that she can't do it; everybody has their own challenges," he said.

During the book signing, for example, customers could not take pictures with Palin and she would only sign her name - no personal messages. Reporters were allowed less than 10 minutes behind a curtain to watch her and couldn't ask questions.