At Minnesota stop, Santorum pledges to stay in the race

LUVERNE, Minn. -- With poll numbers lagging, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum visited this tiny southwestern Minnesota town Monday and assured voters he has no plans of ending his campaign.

"We are going to stay in it to the end and I believe we are going to win it," Santorum said.

Santorum is the first Republican presidential candidate to visit Minnesota in recent months, visiting the tiny Republican stronghold just a week before the state's Feb. 7 caucuses. Santorum has struggled after winning the Iowa caucuses in early January. Now Santorum is locked in a fierce struggle to regain momentum after sliding in recent polls behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania spoke for more than an hour, spending most of the time talking about the importance family and faith in shaping his view of the nation and its problems.

Despite often bitter fighting between Romney and Gingrich, Santorum took few swipes at the leaders, only criticizing Romney's health care plan in Massachusetts.

Pitching himself as a reliable, steady conservative, Santorum has championed legislation to overhaul welfare, end late-term abortions and is one of the most vocal opponents of gay marriage.

He said the nation is on the verge of a crucial moment to return control of the nation back to Republicans.

He returned to the campaign trail Monday after taking time away over the weekend to visit with his 3-year-old daughter, Isabella, who has a genetic disorder and was hospitalized with pneumonia. He said she remains in the hospital, but is out of intensive care and called her recovery "miraculous."

Santorum was scheduled to appear at the Pizza Ranch restaurant on Luverne's main street, but organizers got besieged with calls and decided to move the event to the much larger theater.

After the nearly 90-minute speech, Santorum walked over to the Pizza Ranch to greet customers. Campaign staffers said Santorum visited more than 30 Pizza Ranches while campaigning in Iowa.

His time in the Pizza Ranch highlighted Santorum's problems nationally.

Dee Stanley, a manager at the restaurant, was enthusiastically telling customers that a presidential candidate was expected to visit.

Then Stanley paused and appeared relieved she got his name right.