GLENN: I'm here now with a gentleman that John McCain said, and I want to quote him exactly. He wasn't really one of the most respected senators when he was in the Senate.
SENATOR SANTORUM: Thank you, thank you.
GLENN: Rick Santorum, how are you?
SENATOR SANTORUM: Thank you, I'm doing great.
GLENN: I would take that as a compliment. If John McCain, if John McCain didn't like you, that's a badge of honor.
SENATOR SANTORUM: Well, I don't know if I would say John McCain didn't like me but obviously he didn't respect me.
GLENN: You don't care. You can like me, just don't respect me. Are you that cheap?
SENATOR SANTORUM: I don't think we need to get personal, do we, Glenn? I mean, you know, this is no reason to do that. It's just a matter of respect.
GLENN: I think I would rather have the respect than like.
SENATOR SANTORUM: Yeah. Me, too. I know, I didn't know how you don't get respected and get elected by your colleagues three times as the third ranking member of the Republican Senate.
GLENN: Let me tell you something, Rick --
SENATOR SANTORUM: Didn't respect me, -- doesn't mean they didn't like me.
GLENN: Rick, let me tell you something. You were the third in the Senate, I'm the third most listened to. Anyone can be number three.
SENATOR SANTORUM: You know what, I never really thought of it that way. Thank you.
GLENN: Yeah. This isn't good for your self-esteem today, is it?
SENATOR SANTORUM: This is really the message to hear. I appreciate it. I'll talk to you later, Glenn.
GLENN: You are like me. This week I wanted to pull my car into the garage, bring the door down, unroll the windows and just listen to some music. You know what I'm saying? Holy cow.
Okay, let's start with what happened yesterday at CPAC.
SENATOR SANTORUM: I think I have not talked to Governor Romney, we've had a couple of misses. All I can say is the California situation, I think this was really a blow to him and, you know, we were coming out of there with virtually no delegates, put McCain in a position there. We were talking before super Tuesday that, you know, McCain was at 600, 700 delegates, he still was, you know, just a little bit better than halfway there and there was still a chance to get this thing to a convention by picking up a little moment up after Super Tuesday when he had really just a huge sweep of delegates in California, was over 800 delegates, 2/3 of the way there, still half the delegates to pick but when you're 2/3 of the way there and you are 500 or 600 votes ahead of the other guy, it just wasn't happen. So I think Governor Romney did what I think he said. He was going to fight where there wasn't really a chance for him to win anymore. And, you know, look. He did. He fought very hard. He sacrificed a lot, including a lot of his own money and he gave it a good fight and it just wasn't there.
GLENN: You know, I talked to Governor Romney, you know, in one of our secret meetings in the basements of our churches where we were making lime Jell-O with, you know, carrot shreds in them and I said to him, you know, uphill battle, and this was right before Florida. And he said, if I don't make Florida, I just don't know how we're going to be able to make it, I just don't think that it's going to happen. So I think he put on a brave face for Super Tuesday because the polls showed California. But when California was done, he was done.
SENATOR SANTORUM: Yeah, I don't see -- I mean, I talked to him. I was on the plane with him on Sunday and Monday traveling with him to Missouri and Tennessee and Georgia and they were hitting all these polls saying he was ahead in California. I'm just scratching my head and saying, I don't see -- I mean, I'm not in California enough to know. There's some conservatives out there but there are a heck of a lot more moderates and liberals in the Republican party in Californian there are conservatives and I don't see how Mitt Romney, you know, pulls it off and I think it wasn't there but he -- I mean, he fought to the end.
GLENN: I think there was enough. Where he -- you know, I think the problem was, and I think where he could have connected in California is on the economy and I just don't think he hit that early enough and he didn't -- he just didn't connect strongly enough with "I'm the guy to turn the country around and here's what's coming."
SENATOR SANTORUM: Yeah, I think you are absolutely right. I mean, he's, you know, really the guru of venture capital world out there. This is a guy who, you know, really understands what makes companies tick, how do you create jobs. I mean, how do you turn companies around, how do you -- the guy's brilliant.
GLENN: Yeah.
SENATOR SANTORUM: And he had a great economic plan and, you know, he looks the part of someone who knows what he's -- is in charge. And I don't know. I think almost the issue sort of came up late. I mean, you know the last couple of months is when the economy started to turn and I'm not sure they adjusted their message. I think they still tried to appeal sort of the rock conservative base, that was the campaign that he was focused on and I think he could have broadened his base had he really focused more on the economic message but, you know, maybe next time.