Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, and Rick Santorum have had three nationally televised chances to earn their promotion to the varsity team. They've failed. None of them are about to have their breakout moment now through their keen debating skills and telegenic charisma. If they have chances, it's through on-the-ground organizing or their own specific issue somehow becoming central in the race.
Rick Santorum? He won in Iowa in 2012, sure, but Mike Huckabee won in Iowa in 2008 so a victory there is not a unique calling card, and Santorum is currently polling twelfth in the state.
Bobby Jindal? Snort. He's sitting governor of Louisiana and they hate him there. Plus, his whole message is that he's the smartest guy in the room—or, as his campaign puts it, he has "bandwidth"—and since when was being the smartest guy in the room a way to win a Republican primary?
Lindsey Graham? I ... don't even know what to say. He's polling at 2.6 percent in the state he represents in the Senate, and that may be his high note. He only wants to beat the war drums, but he manages to seem like a giant wimp doing so.
George Pataki? I'm not even going to try to find anything to say.
Forget these guys—there are people in the main debate who are overdue for dropping out. Why are Santorum, Jindal, Graham, and Pataki still getting airtime they haven't earned through their campaigns? If they won't drop out, the networks should at least stop indulging their egos.