The American Spectator

Happy Easter, everyone. Not too much on the political front to report from this holiday weekend. But a few items, nonetheless.

1. Rick Santorum will be taking it easy on the campaign trail until Tuesday as he tends to the health of his little daughter Bella.

2. President Barack Obama is signaling that the latest U.S.-European diplomatic initiative with Iran will be Tehran’s “last chance” to resolve the nuclear issue diplomatically. So if they fail that last chance, then what? War? Attempted strikes on Iranian nuclear sites? Apart from the important geopolitical and national security implications, how things progress on this front could have a transformative effect on the 2012 campaign.

3. The phrase “must-win state” is frequently overused. Nevertheless, I think it applies for Santorum in Pennsylvania. If he can’t win his home state’s April 24 primary — recent polls show an erosion of Santorum’s lead, though only Public Policy Polling actually has Mitt Romney ahead — then it will be hard for him to justify remaining in the race.

4. Newt Gingrich is staying in the race, but he doesn’t sound like a candidate with much of a mission anymore. He called Romney “far and away the most likely” Republican nominee, blamed “our guys” for a spending spree in Florida and after that left him with $4.5 million in campaign debt, admitted that running for president “turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be,” and acknowledged he was ill prepared to take on the “Romney machine.”