Santorum Campaigns Against Washington Marriage Equality

Running neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney according to a new national poll of Republican primary voters, Rick Santorum spent Monday campaigning in Washington state, where primary voters head to the polls March 3 and where Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law a marriage equality bill during an exuberant ceremony yesterday at the state capitol.

During his swing through the state that President Obama carried in 2008 with 57.5% of the vote, Santorum met with a group of conservative religious leaders in a closed-door meeting to push for repeal of the marriage law, which is scheduled to go into effect June 7.

"We have a serious issue about trying to get moms and dads to marry and stay together," Santorum told the Seattle Times. "I don't see this as encouraging that. I think that at least from my perspective it tends to water down marriage instead of encouraging men and women to form healthy marriages, and that to me should be the objective of the government because that is in the best interests of our society."

The newspaper reported that during a Monday night rally in Tacoma, Santorum sparred with protesters, as he has done many times on the campaign trail when confronted by marriage equality supporters. Police removed two protesters after continued disruptions (read the story here).

A New York Times/CBS News poll released this morning shows 30% of GOP primary voters said they supported Santorum, compared to 27% for Romney.