The former senator's admission may just be wishful thinking, since Romney has already thrown cold water on the idea.

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Reuters

Rick Santorum said on Monday that if things don't work out with his presidential bid, he is not ruling out a contingency plan: Join a Mitt Romney-led ticket.

Speaking on CBN's The Brody File on Monday, Santorum told host David Brody that he wouldn't foreclose a vice presidential run if asked to be Romney's running mate.

"Of course," he said when asked whether he'd run for vice president if Romney asked him, adding, "This is the most important race in our country's history. I'm going to do everything I can."

But Santorum's admission may simply be wishful thinking. Earlier this month, when asked on Fox Business if he would choose a more conservative candidate as his running mate, Romney said: "That would preclude, of course, Rick Santorum."

In a separate appearance on Monday on Fox News, Newt Gingrich brushed aside a question about whether he would serve as a Romney running mate. "I cannot imagine him offering," Gingrich said, adding: "We have a lot of bright people out there as potential vice-president candidates."

Santorum routinely attacks Romney's conservativism and on Sunday he described Romney as "the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama." He later contended that he meant only Romney's health care record as governor of Massachusetts.

Despite previously exchanging barbs, however, Santorum insisted on The Brody File that his quibbles with Romney aren't personal. Santorum professes to like Roomney so much, in fact, that he's willing to save him a seat in the White House -- just not in the Oval Office.

"I think he will make a great contribution to this country," Santorum said. "I hope it's at some capacity within my administration in the future."

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