Santorum on debt ceiling and N.C. Senate race

Former -- and possible future -- Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is glad he's not in Washington these days. But he's still taking a hardline position on the debt ceiling.

The former Pennsylvania senator was in Charlotte Tuesday to promote a new film and headline a fundraiser for Lt. Gov. Dan Forest. That was a day before today's apparent last-minute deal to raise the ceiling and avoid Thursday's deadline.

In an interview, Santorum joined the ranks of Republicans like Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina who say fears of default are overblown.

This month Burr told Slate that "The federal government still has about 85 percent of the revenues we spend coming in, and all they have to do is prioritize that they're gonna pay debt service first."

"There's no reason to default," Santorum told us. "There's plenty of money to pay our debt service....The idea that we're going to default is ridiculous." 

He also dismissed the damage caused by the weeks-old government shutdown. "I don't know to many people facing cataclysmic changes in their lives," he said.

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We asked Santorum is he planned to make an endorsement in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race. We haven't been the only people wondering.

He said he got a call from House Speaker Thom Tillis this month asking if he was endorsing one of Tillis' opponents. Santorum has spoken at Charlotte's First Baptist Church at the invitation of pastor Mark Harris. Harris, like Tillis, is now running for the Senate.

"My general inclination is not to get involved with what a appears to be a good field of candidates," Santorum said.