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He has a better chance than Gingrich.

I absolutely agree. For one thing, while he may be more passionately hated by voters who are going to vote for Obama no matter what, Santorum is far less unpopular among independents and swing voters than Gingrich is.

Furthermore, while I personally am not a big fan of his proposal to give manufacturers and those with large numbers of children preferential tax treatment, there's no denying that his populist, pro-manufacturing, socially conservative message will be appealing to Reagan Democrats and can energize the socially conservative vote in a number of key states. It is a campaign built to win in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the rest of the industrial Midwest, which is the key region in today's Presidential elections.

One need only look back to 2004 to see how important this segment of the vote is in the midwest. The state that decided the 2004 election was quintessentially "purple" Ohio, and the turnout in Appalachian Ohio due in large part to the gay marriage proposition sealed the deal.

Perhaps even more important is Hamilton County (Cincinnati), which Bush won by over 20,000 votes in 2004, but Obama won by over 20,000 votes in 2008. This is crucial, because Cincinnati had only voted Democrat in one election - 1964 - since World War 2 and was the only major city not to vote for FDR. Cincinnati, like the rest of southern Ohio and like some important northern counties like Sandusky that also swung to Obama in 2008, is socially conservative and tends to be more populist economically. In other words, it is ripe ground for Santorum in a way it is not for Romney or Gingrich.

It is absolutely essential for any Republican to reverse the 2008 result in Hamilton County in order to win Ohio, and it is absolutely essential for any Republican to win Ohio and at the very least one other midwestern state or Pennsylvania in order to win the election. My own problems with Santorum aside, he is probably the best candidate to do it.