PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is riding a wave of momentum ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

“We are not looking for a chief executive officer in this country. We’re looking for a commander in chief. We’re looking for someone who has experience, someone who can lead,” he said.

With those words, Santorum is feeling upbeat about tomorrow’s Iowa caucuses and his bid for the Republican nomination for President.

Polls show Mitt Romney poised for a possible victory and Ron Paul not far behind.

Santorum’s success tomorrow really depends on the conservative base of the Iowa Republican party, and today he was working hard to get them to forget the polls showing him in third place.

With just hours to go, Santorum was pulling out all the stops — trading in the blue and white of his Penn State alma mater for the black and gold of Iowa.

Santorum called on Iowans to ignore polls showing Romney in first place.

“Don’t defer your judgment — what you know, what you’ve done in studying this race and looking at the candidates and discerning whether they have the right track record, the right policies, the ability to lead, they have want it takes up here and have what’s in here and they have the fire that’s down here — that’s going to make the difference in winning this election,” Santorum told voters.

At one Iowa town meeting, Santorum introduced race.

“I don’t want to make black peoples’ lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.”

Santorum says it’s time to stop expanding government programs for welfare, Medicaid, and food stamps, saying of the government, “They’re just pushing harder and harder to get more and more of you dependent on them so they can get your vote.”

While Iowa voters are just getting introduced to Santorum, here in his hometown of Pittsburgh, some folks are shaking their heads.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” one man said.

“Hard time grasping that,” another man said in Market Square.

But not everyone feels that way.

“I will keep my fingers crossed. Hopefully, he will get in,” a woman said.

A caucus is much different from a primary, where voters just show up and vote like they will do in New Hampshire next week.

In Iowa, caucus voters must attend an evening precinct meeting, wait for a couple hours, listen to some discussion, and then take a position for a particular candidate.

Santorum is hoping his supporters will have the fervor and patience to put him in first place.

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