Rick Santorum on Ron Paul age ding: It was meant in a "joking way"

Rick Santorum on Thursday clarified recent remarks he made dinging fellow GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul for his age, explaining on Fox News that he meant the comment in a "joking way" and that his larger point was that most people are "pretty set in their ways."

"Well I did that in a joking way," Santorum said, when asked if he thought age was "relevant" in a presidential race.

"Because people have said, you know, Ron Paul will get to Washington, D.C. and he'll become president, he'll get the presidential brief and, you know, he'll see how dangerous the world is and he'll change," Santorum said, referencing Paul's hands-off philosophy on foreign policy. "My comment was, you know, how many 78-year-old men do you know change their opinions?" (Paul is actually only 76.)

Santorum conceded it was a "flippant joke," but remarked that the Texas congressman has been pretty consistent in his policies during his tenure as a politician -- a point Paul has often made himself.

"Ron Paul's been saying this for 30 years, this isn't anything new," Santorum said.

Speaking hypothetically about a possible Paul presidency, he added: "He's commander in chief. If day one, he brings back all the troops - he could do that."

Santorum has recently seen a surge of momentum in Iowa, after a Wednesday CNN poll of Republican caucus-goers in the state showed the former Pennsylvania senator in third place at 16 percent, up 11 points from the beginning of the month - and in front of former frontrunner Newt Gingrich.

Paul, who is more and more looking like a favorite in the Tuesday caucuses, has been on the receiving end of increasing attacks in recent weeks -- particularly in reference to his foreign policy positions and a series of racist newsletters published under his name in the 1980s and 90s.