Rick Santorum had one mission in his speech to the Detroit Economic Club today — prove that he has appeal beyond social conservatives. For the most part, he accomplished that.
He stuck mostly to themes of lower taxes, less regulation and a fierce commitment to the free markets. And even though he was in Detroit, he stuck to his opposition of aide to the auto industry, saying that both he and Mitt Romney opposed the bail-out for Detroit, but that Romney supported the bail-out for Wall Street, which Santorum voted against.
Response from the mostly business crowd was not wild, but it was receptive.
The economic club sold far fewer tickets for the speech by the former Pennsylvania senator than for his rival in the Republican presidential race next week. But attendance may have been muted by the 1,600 tickets sold for Santorum’s appearance in Novi tonight at the Oakland County Republicans dinner, and by Romney’s concurrent appearance before 500 at the Livonia/Farmington Hills chambers of commerce.
But he got his message right for a business crowd, touting a plan to rescue manufacturing with massive tax breaks, cutting capital gains taxes and topping off the income tax rate at 28 percent for indiviuals.
He stuck mostly to the economy, although he did make a pitch for strengthening families, saying without a stable family structure America can’t have limited government.
Comments from the crowd were generally favorable afterwards, though applause was sparse during Santorum’s remarks.
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