The whole idea was to get Newt out of the picture, they knew Romney wasn't well received as he wasn't “taking” the New England states in mass as they had expected..., and that wasn't going to change...so Santorum would do just as well for Obama to go up against. Thus the media positioned him to the forefront...and successfully bumped out Newt as time would show.
I listened to a C-span gathering of media and journalists about this. It was an eye opener .....even to the point the media will ‘call it’ for a state as early as possible in order to prevent other voters from going out to vote...if the race is too close for their guy.
Republican voters jumped on board with Santorum as the alternative for Romney, and as usual the “religious” folks could care less what his record is...they “liked” hearing his social comments and went from there...and are still focused on his “religious” stances they want to hear....
Reminds me of the “itchy ear” the Bible speaks of.
Newt's as much a Christian as Santorum is....but religious folk expect perfection and see that in Santorum only because the media has yet to really unload on him...and they won't until it's time to push Romney again.
Santorum fell for the bait from the get go....and as is his history will do and say whatever to advance his political career.
However, if he sees he's not going to do well in Pa as he wants to... I won't be surprised if he drops out in order not to have a second loss go against his career, which is most important to him...always was and will be.
Yes, I know, Santorum’s played perfectly the spoiler to end Newt, because Newt would have crushed Obama. Now we are stuck with Romney, and I do believe Romney will win in November, but I don’t remotely like the fact he’s the candidate.
The fact Santorum can’t even get 50% in his home state shows exactly what I’ve been trying to tell folks about this guy since day one. I don’t hate him, but he’s not electable, never was. I could definitely see him in a VP slot, and his political ability (mediocre) in that level would not be a huge hinderence, he can play the attack dog very well. However at the top of the ticket, this guy doesn’t have it. Had folks not been so foolish, we could have seen a Newt/Santorum ticket that would have ensured romney gone, but now we are guaranteed Romney... so its a lose lose for America.
Romney is better than Obama, but not as good as we deserve.