Now Can I Get an Acknowledgement That Supporting Santorum Wasn't Meant to Help Romney - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Now Can I Get an Acknowledgement That Supporting Santorum Wasn’t Meant to Help Romney
by

For months and months now, some readers have accused me of being for Mitt Romney because I “only” wrote about ten or 11 columns and blog posts criticizing him (and none overtly praising him) while I expressed numerous criticisms, shared by may other solid conservatives, about Newt Gingrich. They had no evidence, but they impugned my motives. When I noted that it was more than a two-person race, they said that my praise for Rick Santorum was just a smoke-screen because “everybody” knew he had no real chance to beat Romney and was merely a way to keep Gingrich down and thus help Romney.

When the race was seen as Romney vs. Perry, I said, no, it was not a two-person race. When it was Romney vs. Cain, I said, no, it isn’t. When it was Romney vs. Gingrich, I said that was a mistake, too. This is and always has been a volatile, multi-person race — and Santorum always had a higher upside vs. Romney than Gingrich did, because he had turned off fewer people and was less prone to huge mood swings, etcetera, than Gingrich was. None of this was meant to help Romney; it was honest analysis, based on 36 years of studying, participating in (statewide ExecDirector for a presidential campaign, veteran of caucus organizing in several cycles, attendee at four GOP national conventions going back to 1980, wearing a total of seven different hats) and writing about this stuff.

Now, tonight, it looks as if Santorum is achieving even bigger victories than anything Romney has achieved in any state anywhere. It looks like he is showing major staying power in the heartland. And he’s also four points up head-to-head vs. Barack Obama, while Romney is four points down and Newt Gingrich significantly below that.

In short, Santorum is a real contender, perhaps even the front-runner (if he pulls an upset in Colorado on top of Minnesota and Missouri, he will have won four contests to four for Romney, despite spending about one-fiftieth of the money). This is exactly what was always a serious possibility. And it is consistent with most of Santorum’s career of beating the electoral odds and showing up te pundits who repeatedly write him off.

The point here is not that I’m so smart. The point is that what I was seeing was so real: Rick Santorum has staying power. Others could have entered, and others (Jindal, Ryan, and others) could have filled the spot Santorum now is filling. Nobody else stepped up to the plate. Santorum isn’t afraid to take on a tough task. Never has been. He deserves some credit.

Sign up to receive our latest updates! Register


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Be a Free Market Loving Patriot. Subscribe Today!