Here's the email to what I'm told is a list of more than 500,000 conservative Catholics:
From: Brian Burch - CatholicVote.org
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2012 1:57 PM
Subject: Game on!
Dear Friend of CV,
I'm in Iowa and it's still buzzing here.
Rick Santorum shocked the political world last night with his amazing performance in the Iowa Caucuses.
In the end, the contest essentially ended in a tie: Santorum came up just eight votes shy of Mitt Romney, who has campaigned in Iowa for six years. And Santorum did it with shoe leather on a shoestring budget.
Given these developments, I need your immediate feedback....
Should the CatholicVote Candidate Fund endorse Rick Santorum?
If you believe we should get behind Rick Santorum now, let me know ASAP by replying to this email.
I’ll be honest, I wanted CatholicVote to endorse him months ago. But any endorsement must involve the heart and the brain. And until the last two weeks, it wasn't clear whether Santorum would get the traction he needed to compete.
Last night he put these doubts firmly to rest. Traveling Iowa in a pickup for the past six months, he outlasted his competitors. Rick Perry faded, Herman Cain dropped out, and just hours ago, Michele Bachmann announced that she is suspending her campaign.
Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Mitt Romney each have qualities we can admire. But Rick Santorum has always been a candidate Catholics could trust.
No candidate is perfect, and his record isn't without blemish. But let’s be honest. Senators hate talking about life and marriage, but Rick Santorum put them on the record and advanced our issues. He is the only Senator ever to force a vote on a federal marriage amendment and he relentlessly pushed for a ban on the gruesome practice of partial-birth abortion. And he understands that the renewal of the family is the only way we will truly rebuild our economy and our culture.
Just last night he told his supporters in Iowa: "People ask what motivates me. What motivates me is the dignity of every human life."
That's what motivates me, too. But CatholicVote is about more than just Brian Burch.
The strength of CV begins with you.
That’s why I need your feedback today.
What do you think: Should we support Rick Santorum?
All my best,
Brian Burch
President
CatholicVote.org Candidate Fund