It is quite clear to me, from reading almost all of her posts, that Jennifer Rubin isn’t turned off by Mitt Romney, but that she also is very favorably disposed toward Rick Santorum. Indeed, her writings indicate, I think, a slight — very slight, but also very consistent — preference for Santorum, not Romney. Latest case in point, a long advice post from her today for Santorum. It certainly is no ringing endorsement of Santorum ove Romney. But it is full of good will for the Pennsylvanian. Here’s how she ends it:

[T]he good news for Santorum is that the Republican electorate seems especially susceptible to impressive debate performance, feisty rhetoric and bold attacks on Obama. Santorum will need to do all that and more. But if anyone in the GOP field (past or present) can do it, Santorum’s the guy.

Toward that end, Rubin offers a lot of sound strategic advice. The best is to continue stressing his economic platform, so as to dispel the notion that he is only a social-issues candidate.

The point here is not to bait those who think (wrongly) that Rubin is a shill for Romney; the point is that her advice for Santorum is good, well worth reading, and also worth it for readers as a way to adjudge, going forward, if Santorum is being successful, and why or why not he is or isn’t.