Rick Santorum Talks Health Care, Manufacturing In Lake County

Health care and manufacturing were the key themes for GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum in his keynote speech Friday at the Lake County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner at the American Croatian Lodge in Eastlake.

In front of the 800 people, who paid as much as $250 to hear him speak, Santorum railed against President Barack Obama's health care plan, calling it "public enemy number one against freedom in America."

"You think the Cleveland Clinic would exist if the government ran health care for the last 100 years?" he said.

Santorum told the crowd that, if elected, he would repeal every Obama initiative that cost more than $100 million per year on his first day in office.

Santorum also spoke on the need for a strong manufacturing sector in the United States.

He said he would cut corporate taxes from 35 percent to 17.5 percent for all businesses, save manufacturing. For manufacturing, he would cut the tax to zero.

Santorum explained that manufacturers need the additional support because they compete with countries all over the world, as opposed to other businesses who only compete domestically.

Santorum added that America needed more than lower taxes or a stronger economy.

"If we do all these things -- build the economy, cut back on spending -- but we don't focus on rebuilding the foundation of this country, I'm not so sure we'll be successful," he said.

Santorum said that if people did three things -- work, graduate from high school, get married and not have children before they're married -- then they only have a two percent chance of falling beneath the poverty line during their life time.

Conversely, people who don't do just one of those things have a 74 percent chance of living in poverty, he said.

"We can talk about cutting taxes, we can balance the budget -- but we're kidding ourselves unless we really talk about what makes America work," he said.

"That's how we were able to have government that was limited (in the past.) Because family was strong. Churches were strong. Volunteer and civic organizations were strong."

Santorum did not often mention his primary opponent Mitt Romney Friday evening. However, he did joke about Romney's superior fund raising.

He noted that while Romney raised more money, a higher percentage of Santorum's supporters gave small-dollar donations than Romney -- implying that more middle-class donors supported him.

While , he will not be able to collect delegates in some districts.

that Santorum was ineligible for Republican delegates in three Ohio districts.

However, Santorum failed to file a full complement of delegates in six more districts, according to The Huffington Post. The holes add up to another nine delegates, for a total of 18 out of the 63 up for grabs.