2016 presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum was in Ames on Tuesday, speaking to a room of about 50 students and Ames residents, discussing his campaign and answering questions.

Santorum, who is running his second presidential campaign after narrowly winning the Iowa Caucus in 2012, has struggled to catch on in polls this cycle, but he reminded the audience that polling early on in 2012 had no effect on the eventual outcome.

“Slow and steady wins the race,” Santorum said. “Four years ago I took the approach that I was going to do something different. I don’t like going out and raising money from folks, I don’t like spending a lot of my time doing that. I spend my time doing this, I’ve been to all 99 counties in Iowa and I have done over 150 meetings this year just in Iowa.”

A Real Clear Politics average of polls in Iowa shows Santorum with only about 1.5 percent support.

James Theobald, sophomore in political science, asked Santorum what he would do on day one to start to control the national debt. Santorum said several portions of spending are contributing to a rising debt, and things like entitlement programs need to be reformed.

Robert Dunn, senior in accounting, asked Santorum how the Republican Party can start to make “inroads” with minorities in poor communities and college students. Santorum said he frequently travels to college campuses and has spoken at almost every Ivy League school in the country.

Santorum tied a question about criminal justice reform to how minority communities are disproportionately affected by tough-on-crime laws, such as three strike rules and government programs riddled with fraud.

He was also asked about campaign finance reform and how he would get big money out of politics. He responded saying that all campaign finance laws should be repealed, but the government should require 100 percent disclosure of all campaign contributions.

“I’ve been trying my best to listen to all the candidates,” said Kevin Cavallin, an Ames resident sitting in the front row. “I basically try to stay as independent as possible. One thing I definitely disagreed with [Santorum on] was net neutrality.”

Santorum discussed government regulation into the economy, and spoke about the Obama administration using decades-old law to regulate new sectors of the economy, like the Internet.

Santorum also discussed the job market after college, telling students that economic policies need to be changed to promote job growth. When asked about education costs, Santorum said government subsidies in education are contributing to rising costs, and schools have “no incentive” to control costs if students are able to take advantage of more subsides. 

“Here’s sort of my pitch for why you should vote for me,” Santorum said. “Because I’m someone who actually came to Washington D.C. when I got elected and I kicked some butt.”

Santorum’s ISU stop was part of a multi-day trip across the state. His event at the Memorial Union on Tuesday was part of the Presidential Caucus Series from the Lectures Program.

The Daily’s Alex Hanson contributed to this story.