Jeffrey Anderson, Weekly Standard:
In all, the “inevitable” nominee has now lost in 5 of 8 states.
Santorum’s 30-point margin of victory in Missouri was the largest margin posted by any GOP candidate so far this year. True, no delegates were awarded as a result of that vote, but a quarter of a million Missourians still showed up and made their opinions known (more than anywhere else except for Florida and South Carolina).
What’s more, of the five largest states that have held votes so far this year (in order, Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado, and South Carolina), Romney has won by 14 points, lost by 30 points, lost by 28 points, lost by 5 points, and lost by 12 points.
Reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's "I win the big states" argument from 2008. If you're a Mitt partisan, you argue that in general election terms, his Florida victory is more important than all those others combined (Colorado and Missouri have 19 electoral votes combined, to Florida's 29). The more salient argument is that Romney has no juice in the Midwest, and that's electoral death.
Quin Hillyer, National Review:
Santorum’s track record also indicates that he wears well over time. Witness his success in the Iowa caucuses, where voters had many months to size up the candidates. Witness his four upset (or at best even-money) victories in Pennsylvania. He doesn’t offer flash and sizzle, but in a long campaign, such as in the media-intensive slog that is a general-election presidential race, his personal and political virtues have time to become more apparent.
He wears so well over time, that Pennsylvania voters booted him from office with a 17.4-point drubbing.
Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Santorum's weakness is that a party nomination, much the less the Presidency, is not won by values alone. Those issues work best when they are part of a larger vision of reviving America's self-confidence and economic growth. Mr. Santorum already has cultural voters on his side. He needs to win independents and Republicans who are more tolerant traditionalists.
Some of this is tone and emphasis. Mr. Santorum often gives the impression that he views the economy as a secondary issue, something he'll get to after he saves the traditional family. But a President can do only so much to shape the culture, while in the current moment he can do a great deal more to help the economy.
In other words, quit with the Jesus stuff and talk about our tax cuts!
Thomas Sowell, National Journal:
If there is a message in the rise and fall of so many conservative Republican candidates during this year’s primary season, it seems to be today’s Republican voters saying, “We don’t want Romney! We don’t want Romney!” [...]
If Romney turns his well-financed character-assassination machine on Rick Santorum, or Santorum resorts to character assassination against either Romney or Gingrich, the Republicans may forfeit whatever chance they have of defeating Barack Obama in November.
"May" forfeit? Too late.
Henry Olsen, National Review:
Santorum’s greater problem is that he is out of touch with today’s blue-collar reality. His message presumes that white-working-class voters are essentially the same as they were in 1980. Reagan Democrats in the Midwest — the Santorum target — were characterized in 1980 by their religion and their occupations. They were disproportionally Catholic, serious about their faith, and likely to work in manufacturing or live in manufacturing-dependent neighborhoods and towns.
Rush Limbaugh:
Rick Santorum, one night, three victories. CBS has the story: "Santorum Stunner: Sweeps 3 GOP Contests." I've taken a gander throughout the Republican media, conservative media, and all over the place, and they are shocked. They're literally shocked. The Republican establishment had no idea this was percolating out there. I can't believe how insulated they are. I mean I know they're insulated. I know they're "inside-the-Beltway." I know they have their own world in which they live, but to look at the reaction they're having today, to see how shocked they are that Rick Santorum has come out of what they thought was an impossible position equivalent to nowhere, is an incredible thing.
What was percolating out there? Santorum. That's what.
Comments are closed on this story.