Social Cons Embrace Santorum

[Dr.Traveler]

Is social conservatives’ embrace of Santorum too late?

By Dan Balz, Published: January 14

After months of hand-wringing, social conservative leaders finally gave collective voice Saturday to their unhappiness that Mitt Romney might be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. If not quite a stop-Romney movement, the decision to try to rally support for Rick Santorum represents an open expression of their frustrations.

Conservatives opposed to Romney have just six days to slow his march toward victory. If the former Massachusetts governor wins the South Carolina primary Saturday, his opponents will have virtually no way to deny him the nomination. He could still become the nominee even if he loses Saturday, but a defeat would raise the stakes considerably in Florida, which votes Jan. 31.
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Found this originally on Electoral Vote.

It appears that at least one segment of the traditional Conservative alliance has found their anti-Romney Candidate. I doubt this will stop Romney in South Carolina, but it will make things interesting. If Newt beats Santorum, then this will likely mean nothing as Newt would stay in just to spite everyone and continue to fracture the anti Mitt vote. If Santorum wins in SC, then this might just mean a contested election all the way out to the convention.

This probably means that Perry is done. Social Cons were his base, and if Santorum has their endorsement, then he's got nothing left. I expect he'll stay in to SC at this point, but after that....

 

[elvis]

Santorum represents everything that's wrong with the republican party.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Yeah, I personally think this was a mistake. He has little organization, has little in the way of fund raising mechanisms, and is just bat shit crazy. Plus, he lost his last election iirc.

They should have endorsed Perry honestly. That could have been a fresh second start moment for him. Or Newt, who will stay in the race as long as humanly possible anyways. I doubt this will allow Santorum to beat Mitt. Instead I think this means the nomination is fractured all the way out to the Convention.

The one crowd that should take this as a GOOD thing is the Paul supporters, as in the three way race to come that will make Paul the kingmaker. If the race had wrapped after South Carolina, the GOP could have ignored him more or less until the Convention. However, with Paul out there sucking up 20% of the vote or more in each state, suddenly Mitt and Rick are going to be kissing tail.

 

[AquaAthena]

Yeah, I personally think this was a mistake. He has little organization, has little in the way of fund raising mechanisms, and is just bat shit crazy. Plus, he lost his last election iirc.

They should have endorsed Perry honestly. That could have been a fresh second start moment for him. Or Newt, who will stay in the race as long as humanly possible anyways. I doubt this will allow Santorum to beat Mitt. Instead I think this means the nomination is fractured all the way out to the Convention.

The one crowd that should take this as a GOOD thing is the Paul supporters, as in the three way race to come that will make Paul the kingmaker. If the race had wrapped after South Carolina, the GOP could have ignored him more or less until the Convention. However, with Paul out there sucking up 20% of the vote or more in each state, suddenly Mitt and Rick are going to be kissing tail.

"They should have endorsed Perry honestly."

He DID have a good forum last night in South Carolina, and he brought up the best line of the night: "Are you better off now than you were 4 TRILLON dollars ago?"

 

[Dr.Traveler]

He DID have a good forum last night in South Carolina, and he brought up the best line of the night: "Are you better off now than you were 4 TRILLON dollars ago?"

If he got his head in the game, got an endorsement or a strong showing somewhere, then he has the money and organization to fight it out. The problem is that losing endorsements like this, finishing weak, etc, makes it look like he's just in it now to waste money....or he's just too stupid to know he's losing.

This could have been the game changer for him. Instead it's probably game over.