The team lacks a pollster, a staple of most modern political campaigns. The only bus that bears Santorum’s name doesn’t even belong to his operation. The Duggar family of reality TV fame owns it.
Sometimes the gap shows.
While Romney, even in the early days, has an aide whose job is to place a wooden soapbox at just the right spot in a crowd for the candidate to stand on, Santorum’s campaign relies heavily on volunteers. He rarely gives more than 24 hours’ notice for events.
That is not to say that the operation amounts to “Rick, a duffel bag and an airline ticket,” Brabender said.
The communications staff has grown from two to six so the campaign can push messages and respond to media inquiries. Key aspects of the operation, including policy, finance, ground game and digital, have added staff. But the team doesn’t plan to hire a pollster or conduct any focus groups or message-testing, preferring that the candidate take his cues from his audiences and speak from his gut.
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