2008 Presidential Candidates

Republican primary thoughts: Was this Rick Santorum’s coming out party?

By mpinkeyes on | From americaswatchtower.com

Last night there were three contests in the Republican presidential primary–Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri–and it turned out to be a huge night for Rick Santorum. This was a devastating night for Mitt Romney and should be a huge boost for Rick Santorum heading into the next contests. The completeness of Mitt Romney’s defeat can be found in the margin by which Rick Santoum won; it is true that these were non-binding contests, but nonetheless the Mitt Romney camp has to be a little nervous this morning.

Rick Santorum was predicted to have a good night beforehand, but nobody expected it to go this well and I think it is partly a referendum on Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as people are still looking for an alternative to Mitt Romney and are tiring of the bickering between he and Newt Gingrich.

The closest contest was in Colorado, where Rick Santorum defeated Mitt Romney by six points, but this was the one state last night that Mitt Romney was expected to win and he didn’t. Missouri handed Mitt Romney a healthy defeat; Rick Santorum won by thirty points, 55%-25%. But the biggest loss of the night for Mitt Romney was in Minnesota where he finished a distant third with only 17% of the vote, while Rick Santorum gathered 45% and Ron Paul hauled in 27%.

So the questions are, can Rick Santorum capitalize on this huge night and does he now have momentum which could carry him into Super Tuesday? He still has two problems–and they are major problems–money and organization. The money problem could be cured with a night such as he had last night; he should expect to see donations start coming in, especially if he receives a bump in the polls. The organization problem is not so easily fixed at this point; although he might start to see more people volunteer to help him, he still isn’t on the ballot in several states and it goes without saying that this is a major setback for him.

Besides people tiring of the Romney/Gingrich spat, Romney’s feeling that he is entitled to be the nominee, and Gingrich’s oft-times nastiness, there may be one other issue at play here in Rick Santorum’s victory last night. Last week the Obama regime announced it would force religious institutions which provided their workers with health insurance to comply with Obamacare and offer plans which included funding for contraception and abortion. This has riled many Christian denominations, none more so than the Catholic church, and Rick Santorum just happens to be a devout Catholic so this issue is personal to him and fits right in his wheelhouse, and could have given him a boost last night and heading forward.

Popular thought with the pundits after Florida was that this race was shaping up nicely for Mitt Romney as all the states could be friendly ground, while being trouble for Newt Gingrich, but they didn’t count on Rick Santorum’s rise, after his big win in Nevada Mitt Romney stumbled in these three states last night and if Rick Santorum can make any hay on Super Tuesday Mitt Romney could be in the fight for his political life.

Mitt Romney’s inevitability took a hit last night and you can rest assured that the attack ads are going to be focused on Rick Santorum next.