Santorum: The Not-Mitt, Not-Newt Candidate

Last night Rick Santorum had a surprisingly good night, coming from out of nowhere to win Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri (although Missouri is admittedly a beauty pageant, their delegates will be selected in a caucus).

Is this an indication that Rick has what it takes to maintain this lead, or is it a repudiation of Mitt Romney?  Sadly, I think the latter.  I’m not sad that Mitt is being repudiated, mind you, but that we’re not fronting a powerful candidate who is a clear choice to lead the country.  I’m afraid that Santorum is benefiting from Romney and Gingrich beating each other bloody. Romney has realized that he can’t win against Newt without going negative, and spent a heinous amount of money in Florida doing just that.  It’s a balancing act, to go negative enough to do the necessary damage to win the nomination, without poisoning the well for November, leaving your base disillusioned and staying home.

Romney has lots of problems.  The conservative base is not enamored of him. His record of governing seems to lean very left of center.  Yeah, people can change, but actions speak louder than words.  He’s seen as a member of the Republican establishment, and if there’s anything the election of 2010 told us, it’s that the right is sick of the Republican establishment, business as usual, reach across the aisle politics of Boehner, McConnell and McCain. It was the Republican establishment that helped get us into this mess by not getting a backbone and standing up against the democrats as they piled on social program after social program without a single idea of how to pay for them.

There’s a considerable sentiment among the conservatives that wonders about the wisdom of nominating the guy who lost to the guy who lost to Obama in 2008.  Seriously, this guy polled behind career RINO McCain.  Why is he even a contender this time around?  Is the right comfortable with the idea that you can buy a nomination?  I think not.

The right is also very suspicious of another political dynasty. We’re bothered by those.  We’ve had enough country club political dynasties.  We don’t want another Kennedy family or Bush family wielding so much influence on America.  Romney’s father was the Governor of Michigan.  That’s enough Romney for a few generations, thank you. The voting record shows this – Mittens is polling about where he was four years ago, and he lost then.

Romney speaks well and says more or less the right things, but that’s all it seems like.  It’s hard to tell if he’s saying what he does from a conservative foundation of principles, or if he’s just saying the expedient things that will get him elected.  The lack of detail on specific issues makes him sound like any other political candidate.  Newt, on the other hand, is willing to go into whatever level of detail you want to go on any given subject. 

The problem with Newt is not his failed marriages – I’ve heard an interesting argument there that there’s something about this guy that attracts women, even when he’s already spoken for.  That should tell us something.  His problem is not his political record, where he was run out of office by a revolt among the establishment republicans – led by then junior congressman John Boehner.  For a lot of people that’s a selling point – proof that Newt isn't an establishment guy. 

No, Newt’s problem is that he’s usually the smartest guy in the room, and it’s obvious. That’s probably a good thing; it would be nice to have an intelligent person in the White House for a change.  But it’s not likely to happen, because America isn’t made up of brainiacs who aren’t uncomfortable in the presence of someone like Newt.  America is predominantly sports jock types, who squirm uncomfortably in the presence of someone like Newt, because they’re outclassed and they know it. I know, I know, not everyone is like that, I’m not saying Newt isn’t doing well.  He just won’t do well enough to win.  That’s a loss for America.

The bottom line is that Santorum’s main advantage coming out of last night’s wins is that he’s not-Newt and not-Mitt.  Don’t get me wrong, I do like Rick Santorum.  I’ve listened to him on the radio doing interviews for years and never had a problem with what he said. He’s just not the heaviest hitter in the field right now, and I think America is losing an opportunity if Gingrich isn’t nominated.

And then there’s that foreign policy nutter Ron Paul, but that’s a subject for a different discussion.