Blogs Feb 11, 2012 at 8:54 am

Comments

1
ugh. he's been legitimized. look out 2016.
3
Romney is attacking him on earmarks. Yawn.

Does Santorum have a chance?

Perhaps.

It will be hard for him to win in diverse states with huge media markets such as Florida or in states with large Mormon populations (Nevada) but he does have a chance due to several factors.

1) He is doing good in caucus states.

2) The Republicans decided a year ago to change how they distribute delegates, in order to extend the primary season (apparently they thought a longer primary season would help them like it did the Democrats in 2008). There are many more states that distribute delegates proportionally than in years past. It will take a lot longer for someone to reach the magic number.

3) Since turnout is so pathetic only the most die hard conservative voters might show up to vote.

4) If Newt does drop out and endorse Santorum, Santorum becomes the non-Romney.

5) If the economy continues to improve Republican primary voters may sour on economic issues and go for more exciting social issues instead.
4
What's funny is that I remember less than a year ago a GOP apologist here on slog saying that it was bogus to attack Santorum since he wasn't a real contender. There's no limit to how crazy current Republicans are.
5
Hmmm. I agree that while I despise santorum, he is at least sincere and authentic in his asshattery. For people that agree with his (twisted) worldview, it is hard to attack him.

Still, I can't imagine him surviving a real primary in any sane state. All he's managed to do is win a few beauty contests in flyover states with negligible populations or weird caucuses. I still think he has zero chance of winning the republican nomination.
6
I know that current polls show that Obama can soundly defeat Santorum - if the election were held today. But I really fear a Santorum candidacy because, unlike Mitt, Santorum will bring the wing-nuts, the crazy-religious and the bigots out to the polls in droves. Sure he'll lose the moderates once his anti-sex stance is known, but I think that a Santorum - Obama race would be closer than anyone is currently admitting.

And I truly fear a Santorum presidency. I think that Rick will make Bush Jr like a presidential genius in comparison. I could live under a Romney presidency - but I really think that if Santorum becomes president will will slip into some sort of extended extremist regime.
7
I think it was Santorum’s articulateness in debating health care and Iran that propelled him into the lead. He’s always had the anti-gay anti-abortion stance, which while significant in itself it didn’t spark the surge.
8
I'm not surprised; for the past 30 years, at least, the people who have been running for President and winning the White House have been slowly going down in quality for the most part. Sure there are brief respites of reason in the White House but the trend is downward.

And it would be entertaining if it wasn't for the nuclear arsenal we have....
9
Romney can always articulate why Santorum got pegged as most corrupt in the Senate: he took money from AccuWeather's prez in exchange for floating a bill that would gut the National Weather Service and give favor to for-pay services. He also blamed the NWS for Katrina.

Also, Santorum has a habit of losing spectacularly.
10
Wasn't Santorum involved in the Ensign scandal? I believe he warned Ensign he was being investigated by the senate ethics committee. Pretty unethical, if you ask me.
11
I think @3 has it pegged: the economy improving may not help Obama as much as it draws people's attention back to the really important stuff: what people do in the bedroom (or wherever) and with whom. Santorum wins that battle because that's apparently all he cares about. He'd even win with the people who have personal lives even worse than Gingrich because they want to align themselves with someone who is Moral. The fact that he lost his election so badly they'll blame on the Media. All religious crazies will vote for him; crazies will stick with crazies, whether they're Mormon or Catholic or SpeaksInTongues. They all think in Capital Letters. Santorum is a Capital Letter.

The days when we thought Colin Powell might be the next Republican Presidential candidate seem three centuries back, and not in a good way.
12
The amazing thing to me is the volatility of the Republican race...we Republicans are like a creature in search of something that we cannot find, and so keep rejecting each choice, one after the other.

It makes me think a wildcard could still enter the race (if Sanitorium were not wild enough). Too bad Joe Fain, the Washington Republican Senator who voted for Marriage Equality, is only 31 -- it's a year when someone like that who is more moderate could also come in an excite the votership.

And that's the other side of the coin. I think a great many Republicans were thinking that Romney had the race sewn up -- meaning the Republicans would take a more moderate stance in order to go up against Obama. But then Romney has (and continues) to make the mistake of not being himself -- and lets be truthful, he's just a big, puffy Lib goober much as he wants to put on a helmet and ride around in a tank and shoot squirrels with the NRA.

And I also hope that voters will be more open to supporting candidates like Fain and others who have shown they are willing to be fair on social issues, and then not turn their backs on them at election time because they are not part of the traditional Democrat corruption.

13
The Guardian's Ewen MacAskill's been doing great reporting - here's his excellent rundown of the GOP race here at the halfway mark - extra points to him for finding old Spy magazine hot topic Norman Ornstein still at it:
"What we have learned is that the Republican party is in a huge mess," said Norm Ornstein, an independent political analyst at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, the bastion of neo-conservatism. "The candidates have one thing in common: enormous weaknesses. Mitt Romney remains a solid favourite to win the nomination but it will be a much more painful process."
Ornstein added: "Barack Obama is a very lucky man. It could not be going better for him."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb…
14
Romney will continue to attack Santorum on the same points he has been attacking him on: he voted to raise the debt ceiling eight times, he actually agreed to compromises in the Senate, he brought pork back to his state. In short, Romney will try to position Santorum as a Washington Insider. More rational people will regard that simply as acting like a Senator. Santorum could name a whole lot of other Republicans who did the same - Republicans who are not getting attacked by Romney, mainstream Republicans who have endorsed Romney. Others have attacked Santorum for having lost his Senate seat. I don't think Romney will go there (since he lost a campaign also: the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008), but he might.
15
@9 - Heh. "Santorum got pegged".
16
The GOP is flailing around trying to regain some equilibrium. The keys to the asylum were grabbed by the inmates and the warders are locked up. The GOP has for years used ideology to pander to a largely uneducated base which votes its prejudice, while crafting policy that favored corporated interests. Those crazies have skewed the outcome. The Dems have remained pretty centrist while throwing the occasional bone to the left. The left is better at compromise, while the Right demands total acquiesence. This is a winning strategy. Most people are more comfortable in the middle and the Right has the most extremists. The average citizen is really fairly decent. Obama may not just sail to victory, but his chances are better than Satntorum's or Romney's.
17
And yet, even with his recent surge, the guy's campaign website still comes up as the second entry in a Google search. He's still behind santorum.

I wonder whether he'll remain the not-Romney long enough to elevate his campaign site to the top of the Google heap.

Please wait...

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