I am not apt to ever say this again: Rick Santorum and I agree. Over the last few weeks we've been tracking the specifics of the Republican primaries. Romney hasn't been a big winner in hard-core red counties. In fact, many of his wins can be considered "rat poison" victories.
Santorum, disagreeable as he is with people like you or me, is scoring big with the radical Right base. Doesn't he deserve a chance to make his case? The primaries are about half done. Romney has wanted this "over" with since the first week. Why, then, is the media catering to that whisper now?
The GOP machine is back-stopping it. As I pointed out this week in "Romney Punks Primary System," the whole primary process is a sham. It covered up the hand-picked system of the era before the 1920s at first with the idea of "democracy" in the party core.
Then, when New Hampshire extended it as a "popular" vote of the registered voters of the party, itw as supposed to be something of a referendum.
How, in a country as big as ours, can it be a referendum when the most populace state in the nation, California, still hasn't weighed in yet?
How democratic can it be when, to avoid "damage" to the hand-picked candidate, the spin machines and the lemmings in the punditocracy "call" the primary season months before it's over.
There are mechanisms in both parties' primary systems to deal with what happens when a candidate doesn't get the dead-lock number of delegates. On the second round, all delegates are "released" and can vote for whomever they want.
It's an understandable worry for Romney, who has a lower likability rating with voters than President Obama. He's the "hold your nose and vote," candidate.
Left to their own devices, the ever-Rightward, Teahadi-infested Republican Party should be able to tear itself to bits.
Let the race continue. If Romney gets 1144 after all 50 plus the territories have voted, he's the better man. If not, let the games begin.
That's one thing where I can wholeheartedly get behind Rick Santorum.
My shiny two.