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It’s just that in Iowa, he happens to like a smart, sleeveless V-neck number.
Crewnecks, with their neck-hugging collars, aren’t suitable for stuffy rooms crammed with voters who have little respect for personal space. Cardigans? Not his thing.
Mr. Santorum prefers the sweater vest, that sensible, traditional choice of grandfathers and college football coaches. He owns them in navy blue, gray and tan, which he sported here on Monday for a voter meet-and-greet. Sensing they were seeing a political fashion statement in the making, members of his staff recently ordered vests embroidered with the Santorum campaign logo.
The vests have inspired their own Twitter feed — @FearRicksVest — and a Web site, FearRicksVest.com, which redirects to a pro-Santorum Facebook page. There is also a music video, “Sleeves Slow Me Down,” on YouTube. The clip is loaded with catchy slogans like “Rick is getting ready to inVEST in you.”
Mr. Santorum’s rivals are biased toward sleeves. Mitt Romney likes his crisply pressed oxford shirts, often under a blazer. Ron Paul is partial to suits, albeit ill-fitting ones. And Michele Bachmann, who has said her fashion icons are Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Audrey Hepburn, is almost always carefully turned out, so much so that she once prohibited photographers from taking her picture when she was wearing cargo pants.
In an interview here on Monday, Mr. Santorum insisted that he was not anti-sleeve. He harbors no bigotry toward extra fabric, whether it’s cotton, cashmere or wool.
He said the vests started gaining notice after a forum in Des Moines a few weeks ago with Mike Huckabee. Most of the other candidates were in suits. Mr. Santorum chose a sweater vest and unwittingly made a fashion statement.
After that, he said, “It sort of took on a life of its own. So I started wearing more and more. My staff bought me a bunch more.”
He buys most of them from JoS. A. Bank. But he’s been known to splurge on a vest at Brooks Brothers.
On Twitter, the sweater has adopted its own persona and first-person voice, as in “Fear me ... and ... hear me! I’m ready to relocate to the White House,” and “@RickSantorum at 16% among Iowa R’s! Take off that sweater vest, Rick, it’s gettin hot in herre!”
He even fielded questions about the vests from Laura Ingraham, the conservative radio talk show host. “Maybe it’s a trend?” she asked.
He started to explain, saying, “One of the things I get all the time ...”
Ms. Ingraham interrupted. “Geek?” she joked.
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