The South Carolina primaries are at least a year away, but you wouldn't have known it standing in the Logan's Roadhouse where prospective presidential candidate Rick Santorum spoke Wednesday afternoon.

Santorum, a former U.S. senator representing Pennsylvania, spoke to about 50 people at a Myrtle Beach Tea Party event and mentioned several times the responsibility that South Carolina voters have in presidential races.

"You have a very important role to play in this whole scenario," Santorum said to the crowded room.

South Carolina has one of the earliest primary dates, and Santorum pointed out that no Republican since 1980 has gone on to win the nomination for president without first winning the South Carolina primary.

Santorum is one of three prospective presidential candidates to visit the area in the last few weeks, likely setting the tone for the rest of the year. In mid-January, Newt Gingrich visited the area, and earlier this week, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson talked to Myrtle Beach Tea Party members.

"You are the human resource department when it comes to who runs for president," he told those who attended.

Santorum spoke to the local tea party members about a variety of issues, but many stemmed back to his idea that Americans are fundamentally different from other people in the world.

"The DNA of the people of America is different," he said. "The people who came to this country did not come here to be taken care of by their government."

And he said that fundamental difference is the reason the 2012 election is "the most important of our lifetime."

"To put this country back on the footing our Founding Fathers intended ... we have to win the presidency, win the Senate," he said.

Santorum said he believes in a strict reading of the Constitution and that the federal government has "overstepped its bounds."

He also said he believes the courts have too much power.

"The courts were supposed to be the most insignificant branch of the government," he said. Congress has the power and the right to declare what is constitutional or not, he said, and added that since Congress created all of the courts, other than the Supreme Court, it has the power to disband them.

"I would sign a bill tomorrow to eliminate the 9th Circuit [Court of Appeals]. That court is rogue. It's a pox on the western part of our country," Santorum said.

On Wednesday, he also discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said he doesn't think that the best question for the American people to ask, or for the president to be focused on, is "When are we going to get out?"

He said the public and the president should be focused on "What happens if we lose?"

He said he even challenged former President George W. Bush to "talk about who the enemy is."

"'The War on Terror,' that's just not true. Terror is a tactic used by an enemy," he said.

Santorum said when people say that Islam has nothing to do with the wars, "That's a lie."

"They're fighting us because they fundamentally disagree with us. They want to eliminate us," he said. "We have two different ideas of what god is, two different ideas of what humanity is, two different ideas of what social justice is."

Santorum also said the need to protect the U.S.- Mexico border is not just an economic issue, but a national security issue.

Islamic Jihadists "realize they have to have some kind of foothold near us in North America. That's why there are jihadist training camps in South America," he said.

He said he supports legal immigration and that "we can solve a lot of problems with illegal immigration by bringing more people in."

Contact GINA VASSELLI at 443-2434.