Thank you for posting this article, caww. When life deals me a lemon, I like to make lemonade.
Look at this item later in the article you posted from Politico. It looks to me like you've pretty much proved that Santorum is not an establishment Republican candidate and is coming under pressure by party leaders to pull out.
What you (or at least the avowed Romney backers quoted in the article) meant as part of an anti-Santorum narrative looks like it could be a pretty good argument for voting in favor of him.
By the way, you are still a Gingrich backer, right? Would you like to explain to us how Romney winning Pennsylvania will help Gingrich defeat Romney? If you're simply providing information, that's certainly a good thing, and I'm glad to read these articles. But I can't see how it helps Gingrich to harm Santorum in Pennsylvania -- looks to me like a Romney win in Pennsylvania hurts Gingrich and Santorum both by continuing to add to Romney's delegate count.
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Santorum has managed to resurrect his political career after this 2006 loss to now-U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. A loss in Pennsylvania could undo that work, they say. That’s sparked speculation that if Santorum doesn’t like his chances in Pennsylvania, he might drop out.
“Former Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), a Romney backer who managed Santorum’s first House race in 1990, called the results “stunning.”
“He’s done nothing to repair the damage that was created in the lead-up to 2006, and a lot of it was self-inflicted,” said English, who praised Santorum for his strong campaign but warned that if he continued to run the GOP establishment might blackball him in the future, which could severely limit his influence within the party.
“I supported Rick Santorum every time he ran for office and was thrilled he did as well as he did … but Rick Santorum has already effectively lost the nomination,” he said. “The question becomes, does he have any role in the future of the party?”
Rick is by no means the ideal candidate and I have many reasons why I would much rather support Newt...immensely so. But it is a game and even the voter has to gage what all this is really about....and it's about stopping Romney... so far it isn't working as well as hoped with the Media block out of Newt and any favorable spots for Santorum. Therefore the voter has to discern where his vote will count most.
As for how Romney and Santorum and the GOP play this state remains to be seen...but it will likely get hot before it's over....the question in my mind would Santorum step out if he thinks he's chances are growing slim, in order to save his political career?