Widely-Traveled Santorum Outpacing His Rivals

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who plans a weekend trip to Iowa, has quickly become the most widely-traveled candidate in the GOP field, logging no fewer than 16 trips to New Hampshire, 15 to South Carolina and another 14 to Iowa, according to NBC’s Jason Seher.

The 53-year-old Santorum, who has made a total of 23 campaign-related trips since the beginning of the year, has also made brief forays into Florida and Nevada.

The twenty-three trips made by the travel-weary Santorum so far this year are matched by those of Herman Cain, the former chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza who’s also waging a long-shot bid for the Republican nomination. Cain has already visited Iowa nine times, New Hampshire on six occasions, and has made four stops in the Palmetto State, including a May 5 appearance in the nationally-televised Republican presidential debate — the first primary debate of the 2012 election cycle.

Cain, 65, has also made two trips to Florida and stumped briefly in Michigan and Nevada.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has made eighteen trips since the beginning of the year, including five stops in Iowa and New Hampshire and six to South Carolina. So, too, has Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota. Pawlenty, who lags in most of the early polling — garnering just 4 percent in the Gallup poll released Wednesday — has made eight trips to neighboring Iowa, four to New Hampshire and Florida, and two to South Carolina.

Frontrunner Mitt Romney, meanwhile, has made thirteen stops in the early primary and caucus states, including five in New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation primary. He hasn’t visited Iowa yet.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has made a dozen trips so far, taking his libertarian message to Iowa five times and to the Granite State on three occasions. He’s also made a couple of stops in Nevada and at least one in Florida.

Longtime political consultant Fred Karger, the first openly gay candidate to seek a major-party presidential nomination, has also made several trips to Iowa and New Hampshire.

Perennial candidate Andy Martin of Chicago acknowledged that he hasn’t made as many trips as some of the other candidates, but says that he’s visited New Hampshire four times and Iowa twice since entering the race. A one-time aide to the late Sen. Paul H. Douglas of Illinois, Martin has also made campaign appearances in South Carolina and Colorado.

Martin believes that most candidates travel way too much, get too tired and then make costly mistakes.

“I am the real Reagan,” he told Uncovered Politics. “Like the Gipper I try to get adequate sleep, avoid over-traveling and always want to be fresh and rested for interviews.”

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has just started to test the presidential waters, made his first appearance in New Hampshire yesterday as part of a planned five-day tour of the state. In his first stop in Hanover, the former ambassador to China was nearly overwhelmed by television reporters, writers and photographers eager to interview him. Huntsman has also made stops in Florida and South Carolina.