Santorum in South Carolina
Rick Santorum is in South Carolina, days before the New Hampshire Primary and days after I wrote New Hampshire was a distraction for the Santorum campaign.
I’m not taking credit, here. Santorum’s advisers likely saw poll numbers in South Carolina showing Romney not only ahead, but ahead by double digits! Part of the problem is that Gingrich is still polling incredibly well in the state.
Mitt Romney – 30%
Newt Gingrich – 23%
Rick Santorum – 19%
Ron Paul is in a distant 4th with just 9%.
Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are splitting the “anybody but Romney” vote in the state, and unless Newt drops out after New Hampshire and endorses Santorum immediately, this race is going to be over after the South Carolina primary.
What’s particularly frustrating about this, if it happens, we will have two consecutive Republican nominees who the majority of Republicans DIDN’T want as their nominee. As you may remember, John McCain won far less than 50% of Republican Primary votes in 2008. Even if he’s the only name on the ballot in a lot of the states at the end, Mitt Romney will be lucky to get over a third of Republican primary voters to vote for him in 2012.
What’s particularly annoying about this is, like John McCain after he won the 2008 GOP nomination, hardcore Anti-Democrats will rally around Romney anyway. Also like John McCain in 2008, Romney isn’t going to be able to get the conservative vote out in November. Unlike John McCain, however, moderates don’t trust Mitt Romney.
If the GOP is going to win this race, they need a personable candidate at the top of the ticket. That is not Mitt Romney. As much as I like the man, that’s not Newt Gingrich, either.
I’m not endorsing or supporting Rick Santorum until he convinces me his solution for the Middle East doesn’t involve kicking Palestinian Muslims and Christians out of their homes and into foreign lands; which would result in genocide. However, if the Republicans are going to win this race, I think Rick Santorum is the only candidate that can make it happen.
Mitt Romney is flat out saying Santorum can’t beat the Obama fundraising machine. But, as the Mormon church must not have taught Romney, money isn’t everything. Huckabee and Santorum have both proven that to him. Besides cliche quotes about money, however, the truth is that whoever becomes the nominee is going to be swimming in cash flowing from every corner of the Republican Party.
But before any of that, Rick Santorum absolutely needs to consolidate support from all the other anti-Romney candidates after New Hampshire and well in advance of the South Carolina primary.
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