Sheldon Adelson on Rick Santorum: ‘I don’t want him to run my country’

By Anjeanette Damon

Wednesday, March 28, 2012 | 4:54 p.m.

In some of his first public comments on the presidential race, Las Vegas Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson candidly described GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s dwindling chances for the nomination and said he doesn’t want Rick Santorum “running my country.”

Adelson, whose family has given more than $16 million to the super political action committee backing Gingrich, remains unimpressed with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as well, according to JewishJournal.com.

But Adelson acknowledged his favored candidate isn’t going to win the race.

“It appears as though he’s at the end of his line,” Adelson told a small group Monday at The Jewish Federations of North America’s TribeFest, held at the Venetian. “I mean, mathematically, he can’t get anywhere near the numbers.”

Video of the brief discussion was posted by JewishJournal.com.

Adelson, wearing an “Obama... Oy Vey!” button, went on to say that he knows and personally likes Santorum, but that Santorum’s socially conservative views trouble him.

“I got to tell you something, I don’t want him to run my country,” Adelson said.

Adelson wasn’t quite as critical of Romney, but did not offer a glowing endorsement of the frontrunner in the primary race.

“The problem with Romney — he’s not the bold decision maker like Newt Gingrich is,” Adelson said. “Every time I talk to him he says 'Well, let me think about it.’ Everything I’ve said to Mitt, 'let me look into it.’

“He’s like Obama. When Obama was in the Illinois Senate, 186 times he voted present because he didn’t want to establish a record for himself.”