Santorum spoke at the Lyon County GOP dinner in Rock Rapids, IA, attended the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, and delivered remarks at the Iowa Family Leader Family Leadership Summit (video here).  The articles below recap Santorum's trip.

From the Des Moines Register:

"The future of the Republican Party and the nation itself depend on conservatives standing up for their values, Rick Santorum warned in his return to northwest Iowa on Thursday night.  Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and 2012 presidential candidate, came back to this ardently conservative corner of the state as the featured speaker at a multi-county GOP fundraiser, captivating a crowd of more than 300 and then appearing live on CNN from the floor of the banquet hall...Santorum lamented a decline in Christian cultural influence and a rise in dependence on government. He implored Iowa's most die-hard Republicans to live their values and export them beyond the GOP fortress of their home counties.  In his speech, he was sharply critical of the Republican Party efforts in the race after he dropped out, accusing national leaders of focusing too much on 'job creators' while leaving behind working people and 'job holders' who share their views and values."

From NBC News:

"'We can't just celebrate the job creators, we have to celebrate the job holders and we have to have a message for them,' [Santorum] said.  'My challenge to the Republican Party is to take a page out of our book and start putting forth an agenda of ideas to raise up folks who want to vote for us. You saw from the last election, they don't want to vote for President Obama, but at least he went out and talked to them. At least he went out and spoke about them.  We didn't do that. We marginalized them.'"

From Politico:

"Former presidential hopeful Rick Santorum returned to Iowa for the first time since campaigning for Mitt Romney in the last presidential election and criticized the GOP for being 'tone deaf' and failing to reach working Americans during that campaign.  Speaking at a local Republican fundraiser, Santorum said the party was wrong to focus too strongly on 'job creators' and not enough on 'job holders'...'If all we do is focus on the job creators and not the job holders, we're talking to a very small group of people,' Santorum said."

From the Daily Beast:

"Rick Santorum was more popular than the butter cow.  At the Iowa State Fair on Friday, he received more attention than traditional draws like pork tenderloin on a stick or a bovine made entirely out of butter....Everywhere the former Pennsylvania senator went at the fair, he was greeted by elected officials, ordinary citizens and even the Oklahoma man who wrote his campaign song and just happened to be at the fair selling pots and pans. They all seemed over the moon to be in the presence of a man who was preaching culture war among the corn dog stands and carnival rides."

A number of other stories also highlight his trip:

• U.S. News and World Report: Santorum Receives Warm Welcome at Iowa State Fair
• ABC News: In Iowa, Rick Santorum Rails Against Hollywood
• Associated Press: Rick Santorum: GOP Must Appeal To Working Class
• The Washington Times: Rick Santorum tests his mojo in Iowa
• Des Moines Register: Does a rising tide lift all boats? Santorum challenges GOP economic focus
• The Washington Post: Santorum returns to Iowa, bringing 2016 along with him
• Des Moines Register: Santorum proposes overhauling the GOP
• Time Magazine: Santorum Eyes Repeat Run in 2016