By Keegan Gibson, Managing Editor

Former Senator Rick Santorum let the audience at this weekend’s  NRA convention know just how he felt about Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ proposed “truce” on so-called social issues.

“People saying in this election that we need to put a truce on moral issues don’t understand,” said Santorum. “America is a moral enterprise. Unless we are a good and virtuous people, we will not be a free people.”

It comes as little surprise that the former Senator has no tolerance for Republicans who suggest a more moderate approach to abortion and gay rights. More than any other, those issues define Santorum’s political legacy and underpin his underdog campaign for the GOP nomination.

Video: Santorum takes a Swipe at Daniels

Santorum elaborated on his remarks during an interview after his speech.

“You can’t go out and say that all we’re about is less taxes, we don’t really care about whether people are married or whether they raise families or whether children have moms and dads, we don’t care about any of that. Those are personal issues,” he said, characterizing social moderates in the GOP.

“Well, they may be personal issues but they have a profound effect on society ad they will have a profound effect on the size and scope of government and the success of our economic and social future. To ignore those, to suggest that they do not matter, to me, fundamentally shows you don’t understand what makes America work.”

Pundits have cited Santorum’s potential appeal to social conservatives, a key voting bloc in the Iowa caucuses, as perhaps his biggest advantage in seeking the nomination.

It’s a theme likely to emerge among other 2012 GOP hopefuls. Daniels is reportedly much more likely to run since the departure of Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour from the field. Analysts have said that Daniels is in line for much of the establishment support (and money) that had been heading Barbour’s way.

Daniels, for his part, doesn’t seem to be keeping the “truce” in his home state. Last week, he signed a controversial bill to defund Planned Parenthood in Indiana.

However, in his effort to win over social conservatives, it seems Santorum’s stiffest competition may come from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee, also a former preacher, won the Iowa caucuses during his 2008 presidential campaign. He consistently performs well in GOP primary polls for 2012.  After months of noncommittal statements, it appears he may be inching toward another run.

Take the case of Leslie Redweik of Knox, Indiana.  She traveled to Pittsburgh to hand out literature to NRA convention-goers supporting Huckabee’s presidential candidacy. And she’s exactly the kind of Republican voter Santorum will need to win over in order to have a shot at the nomination.

“I’m conservative across the board. I call myself an “M3” conservative: military, money and morals,” she said. “They [candidates] should cover it all.”

That’s why she ruled out supporting her own Governor.

“He’s all right,” Redweik said, “but I really don’t feel like having a President ‘truce.’”