Over the weekend and ahead of the Super Bowl, you might have missed this bit of news from the GOP presidential race: Nationally according to Rasmussen, Rick Santorum is the ONLY Republican contender defeating Obama in a head-to-head match-up in the general election!
Santorum: 45%
Obama: 44%
Romney: 43%
Obama: 47%
Gingrich: 41%
Obama: 49%
And there are three primary contests tomorrow, in which Santorum has an opportunity to win two of them ahead of Romney, while also beating Gingrich in all three. In Colorado, it's looking like Romney is primed for another win, with Santorum placing second; but Minnesota is looking much tighter, with Santorum holding a small edge over Romney (29% to 27%), and as Public Policy Polling noted Sunday morning, "Tuesday has the potential to be a big day for Rick Santorum." There’s also a non-binding primary in Missouri tomorrow of which Gingrich is not on the ballot, per PPP's last poll, Santorum was leading Romney 45 percent to 34 percent! If Santorum has a strong showing tomorrow, he’ll build up a head of steam going into the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he can make his case to conservatives. Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner writes, "If Santorum has a strong showing tomorrow, he'll build up a head of steam going into the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he can make his case to conservatives." Rick Santorum is proving to be not only a popular candidate, but the most likeable Republican in the remaining field, which provides a key ingredient to winning not just elections, but the hearts and minds of voters.
That kind of positive momentum would definitely help Santorum heading into the Romney-vulnerable mid-West and South, which certainly explains Romney's shift from his regular attacks on Gingrich to going after Santorum now. But Klein points out that there's a risk in this for Romney:
To start, Santorum is a much more sympathic figure than Gingrich, so pursuing a scortched earth strategy against him is much more likely to backfire. Also, Santorum’s record is much more consistently conservative than Gingrich’s...[also] whatever Santorum’s deviations from conservatism, they pale in comparison to Romney’s — on abortion, guns, and health care among other issues.
So what does Romney do? Well, for starters, he dispatches surrogate Tim Pawlenty to criticize Santorum's past spending via a conference call (the Santorum camp has already appropriately responded to the man who coined the term 'Obamneycare', as well as the author behind it). Levin also picked up on Romney's shift towards Santorum, and had a few choice words about the Massachusetts moderate:
"So now, Rick Santorum is going to be trashed by the Romney trash machine. How about spending $15 million, Mr. Romney, on why we should vote for you, not why we should vote against one of the other Republicans!"
And finally, Quin Hillyer takes a page from Michelle Malkin and lays out a case for Santorum's candidacy:
Rick Santorum can win the Republican nomination. Rick Santorum can indeed beat Barack Obama in the fall. And Rick Santorum can and would govern at least as conservatively as Ronald Reagan did.
The evidence of his principled, mainstream conservatism is unambiguous, as is his record of winning long-shot races. What hasn’t been fully understood yet is why, and how, Santorum could win the Republican nomination and the presidency.
Within the GOP...Santorum probably has a better chance to defeat Mitt Romney head to head than Gingrich does. Polls bear that out. A number of polls also show that whereas a significant portion of Santorum voters would prefer Romney to Gingrich (this is Gingrich’s polarizing nature again coming into play), the vast majority of Gingrich voters would move to Santorum in a two-man race against Romney. That’s why, one on one, Santorum can beat Romney but Gingrich can’t.
When the “internals” are analyzed, Santorum rates particularly high on personal character, on sincerity, and on steadfastness of principle. Those are bedrock traits that, over a long campaign, help secure a voter’s comfort level with a candidate.
Hillyer also makes mention of all the conservative leaders that have finally begun to rally around Santorum: Michelle Malkin, David Limbaugh, Sharron Angle, Tom Tancredo, Bob Schaffer, Richard Viguerie, Gary Bauer, Michael Farris, James Dobson, Elaine Donnelly, Colin Hanna, Phyllis Schlafly, Pat Boone, and Maggie Gallagher, along with the well-publicized votes of social conservative leaders who met in Texas a few weeks back, as announced by Family Research Council chief Tony Perkins. And while not 'officially' endorsing, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin (who's openly said Santorum's got his vote), Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, William Bennett, and NR’s own Rich Lowry and Kathryn Lopez are among the many who have had supportive things to say about Santorum.
All of which Hillyer concludes, "that Santorum’s potential for electoral strength is good, while his risk of disaster is rather low. Right now the only thing keeping him from being a clear winner is the failure of even more Reaganite leaders — all of whom know him to be a dependable, full-spectrum conservative — to stand up for him in the same way that he has stood up for conservative principles for so long. With Malkin, Angle, Limbaugh, and Bob Schaffer now coming on board, that odd reluctance might be coming to an end. If it does, watch Rick Santorum surge again."
Game on? We certainly hope so.
You can help Santorum's campaign here.
ADDENDUM: Good to see Santorum hitting back hard at Romney throughout Monday. In one case, he asked Minnesota voters if they were really going to nominate "the worst possible person" on healthcare, and afterwards, commented on Romney's usual tactics. In another case, the Santorum camp used Romney's own words against him when he called on MA's congressional delegation to continue throwing good money after bad at the "Big Dig" boondoggle in Boston, telling them, "I'd be embarrassed if I didn't always ask for federal money whenever I get the chance." Levin also interviewed Santorum Monday evening...check it out!
