For all the scalding comments Rick Santorum has made about Mitt Romney over the past week, he'd still consider joining the Republican presidential front-runner's ticket.Â
The trailing GOP candidate talked about that possibility in an interview Monday with the Christian Broadcasting Network.Â
"Of course," Santorum said, when asking whether he'd consider being Romney's running mate.
"This is the most important race in our country's history. I'm going to do everything I can," he said. "We know their future and all of our children's future is at stake in this election, and I don't want to be the guy who has to sit with my granddaughter 20 years from now and tell stories about an America where people once were free. I don't want to have that conversation."Â
Asked if he's keeping his options open, Santorum responded: "I'll do whatever is necessary to help our country."Â
Santorum made the comment a day after he declared in Wisconsin that Romney is "the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama."Â
Last week, Santorum suggested Americans might as well vote for Obama if Romney wins the nomination -- a remark he later walked back.Â
Santorum also clarified that when he called Romney the "worst Republican" to run in November, he was talking about Romney's credentials on the issue of the federal health care overhaul.Â
Romney, though, already signaled he's not considering Santorum for VP, should Romney become the GOP nominee.Â
Asked earlier this month on Fox Business about having a "conservative" on the ticket, Romney said: "Well, that would preclude, of course, Rick Santorum."Â
Perhaps a more likely candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said on "Fox News Sunday" that he would consider the offer if Romney asked him to run as the Republican vice presidential candidate.Â
Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee and lead author of the party's controversial plans to overhaul Medicare and other entitlements.
Article from FOXNEWS