"Miraculous turnaround" for sick Santorum girl

Elizabeth Santorum, eldest daughter of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, campaigns for her father in a hanger at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in Sarasota, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Paul Sancya

MIAMI, Fla. - Rick Santorum said his youngest daughter Bella has made a "miraculous turnaround" after being hospitalized for pneumonia and delaying his return to the campaign trail this weekend.

"Thank you so much for those prayers. They have lifted us up," Santorum told a group of Florida voters on a tele-town hall he held Sunday evening. He added that his daughter was "alert" after what he described as a "very, very tough night" for his family on Saturday. She is currently wearing a mask to assist her breathing, and is expected to spend between two and four more days in the hospital, he said.

Bella, 3, was born with a severe genetic abnormality that claims the lives of most children within a year of birth.

Santorum had left Florida on Friday to hold events in Philadelphia and prepare his tax returns for public release from his home in Virginia. He joked that he owed thanks to the press for sending him home to produce the documents, which meant he was close by when his daughter fell ill. She was admitted to a local hospital in Virginia, he said, not to her usual hospital in Philadelphia.

The former Pennsylvania senator will not be returning to Florida ahead of Tuesday's primary. His campaign issued a new schedule Sunday night that put him Cottleville, Mo. on Monday afternoon to give "a major address focusing on jobs, the economy, and American competitiveness."

Santorum also planned to hold a town hall Monday in Luverne, Minn.; a rally Tuesday in Lone Tree, Colo., and a Florida primary watch party Tuesday night in Las Vegas. All four of those states have contests coming up, starting with the Nevada caucuses Saturday.

Polls in Florida show Santorum well behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and his campaign had been weighing how hard to compete here. His campaign held previously scheduled events in the state on Sunday, but his daughter Elizabeth and members of reality TV's Duggar family attended in his stead.

[tonyatq]

My prayers go out to his daughter.

[pennsjoe123]

Is Rick playing the religious card?
What a joker this guy is.

[jumkey]

So Santorum thinks taking advantage of medical care for his children that he wants to deny to the rest of us is a "miracle".

There is no "miracle" in not caring if other people's children die.

[SJames6621]

which is what the repubs want - let people die on the hospital steps. That is their idea of protecting life by ending med insurance for all people. Medicare will be next - no insurance company would cover our old folks for anything like a reasonable price.

I had one prostate biopsy. the insurance co. wanted $30,000 / yr to cover me. Now I've had 3 biopsies, and btw skin cancer.

The republican motto - go die. Us rich ones cant afford to pay a little more for medical care for your parents .

[flexsf]

For someone who has so much hatred towards one particular group of people, it's difficult to believe he has a soft spot for a child. I think Santorum is full of it!

[jtom58]

Actually, I find it particularly interesting how many people speak so violently and vehemently against so many of the core beliefs and practices that this great country was founded on and has lived by for much of her existence. Sadly, it is people like you and most of the other commenters who are pathetically causing her decline. You may very well get what you want, a sick country run by sick and deranged individuals.

[ddaryl1]

at jt0m58

Republicans are sick twisted disgusting individuals.. SO yes I fully agree

[santadog9]

Being in a hospital, full of doctors and medicine... miraculous. Right.

[JV1970]

You forget that many people die in hospitals full of doctors and medicine!

[JV1970]

AttentionDeficit No, IDIOT, JESUS DOES NOT love one person more than another!

[Zann-Zel]

Just glad the little girl is okay! My grandson's first year was scary, in and out of the hospital all year long! But thank God, he came thru. And hey, he was being born at the exact time Obama was being inaugurated! So can we count that miracle in Obama's column? ; )

[bobnjersey]

[Elizabeth Santorum, eldest daughter of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, campaigns for her father in a hanger at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport in Sarasota, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. ]
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is that abraham lincoln standing behind rick's daughter (in the picture)?

now that's a miracle!

[Zann-Zel]

LOL! The headline should be Abe Lincoln Returns! : )

[credibility2]

Thank God...the fact that this child is living beyond the life expectancy of children with similar genetic issues is a miracle...between God, medicine and the power of prayer...more believe than don't believe...

[JV1970]

credibility2 I pray that there will ALWAYS be more people in the world who believe than don't believe!

[rwsmith29456]

Gads, how do you carry on a campaign with a seriously ill child? Miracle, doctors, everybody, I'm just glad she's better.

[nancy_naive]

for a Republican, it's a photo-op.

[credibility2]

nancy_naive...I'll just bet you felt the same when Rep. Giffords was paraded into the chambers repeatedly, or former Sen. Kennedy was similarly paraded into the chambers in his debilitating form...

[D-Waarheid]

Funny how the Godless and atheists have so much to say about something supposedly non existent.