Report: Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats asked Michele Bachmann to drop out and endorse Rick Santorum

(By Allahpundit, Hot Air) - I’m confused. Why should the Ames straw poll winner, who’s played a key role at some of the debates and who’s always polled higher than Santorum, give up on her home state and throw her support to him instead of vice versa?

Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats called Michele Bachmann and urged her to drop out of the race and endorse Rick Santorum, a source with knowledge of the conversation told POLITICO Tuesday…

Bachmann declined, the source said, noting to Vander Plaats that she has consistently polled ahead of Santorum in the race and still does…

“I refuse to take a swing at somebody and diminish what they think is their God-ordained role. I refuse to do that,” [Chuck Hurley, the president of the Iowa Family Policy Center] said. “What I would say instead of quote, drop-out, unquote, is why can’t the top three or so pro-family candidates come together and figure out who has the talent for president, who has the talent for other roles in the federal government, whether it’s attorney general, secretary of state, vice president, Health and Human Services secretary, and those people could quickly, with the 10-10-10 situation [in the polls], could quickly vaunt into first place, win the Iowa caucus and win the nomination.”

Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan said Perry spoke with Vander Plaats on Friday, but dropping out and backing Santorum “absolutely did not come up.”

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