A Tennessee winner? Rick Santorum's making a run

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WASHINGTON - Leading in a number of national polls, Rick Santorum is moving quickly to put in place a formal campaign operation in Tennessee as the state prepares to take its turn in the fight for the GOP presidential nomination.

In just the past couple of weeks, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania has opened campaign offices in Knoxville and Johnson City and has tapped Knoxville native Jon Parker as his state field director.

Last weekend, volunteers manning a phone bank in Johnson City called thousands of voters across the state to firm up support for the candidate and spread his message of conservatism and family values. Supporters also are planning door-to-door campaigns in several parts of the state this weekend.

Santorum himself will return to the state Saturday when he headlines a Tea Party-movement event in Chattanooga.

"We're hard at work," said Parker, who is coordinating the grassroots, volunteer network already working on Santorum's behalf.

Voters in Tennessee and nine other states will cast their ballots for president in the Super Tuesday primary on March 6. While most of the national attention will focus on potential swing states like Ohio and Virginia, state officials say the hard-fought battle for the GOP nomination gives Tennessee its best opportunity in years to be a real player in the presidential contest.

"Just looking back on history, I think it has been a long time since Tennessee had a strong voice in choosing the Republican nominee," said Chris Devaney, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party.

Santorum, who surged in national polls after winning contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, is also the front-runner in Tennessee, according to one poll. An American Research Group poll of "likely" voters put him in first place with 34 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (27 percent), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (16 percent) and Texas Rep. Ron Paul (13 percent).

Santorum's rise has come so rapidly -- just a few weeks ago, he sat at the bottom of most polls and was considered an afterthought -- that he has had to scramble to get a campaign team on the ground in states like Tennessee, where the primary races are fast approaching.

Santorum has no delegates committed to him on the Tennessee ballot, but if he wins the state primary, the state GOP will work with his campaign to come up with a list of delegates, Devaney said.

It should come as no surprise that Santorum is polling well in Tennessee, given his opposition to abortion and his role in reforming the welfare system in the 1990s, said state Rep. Bill Dunn, a Knoxville Republican and Santorum backer.

"When I hear him talk, you can tell he has thought things out, that he's trying to both answer a question and inform the public -- almost like there is more of a dialogue instead of a sound bite to score political points," Dunn said. "I think there's a lot of sincerity in his responses."

Though the well-funded Romney entered the race as the front-runner, Santorum has soared past him in many national polls.

(Email collinsm(at)shns.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)