Jim, I feel Newt is much stronger however I will gladly vote for Santorum.
ANYONE BUT RUMNEY,!!!! I wonder if this has anything to do with
the Catholic vote!!!!!!
Yes, I think the bishop's letter had an effect.
Let's remember that conservative ethnic blue-collar Roman Catholics in northern industrial states were a significant part of the Reagan Democrat vote. Santorum is almost tailor-made to appeal to that constituency, for both economic and religious reasons.
At the same time that Newt Gingrich was getting his photograph with Nancy Pelosi on the couch to call attention to global warming, Santorum was saying that we need to support America's coal miners, at least in part because he's from an old-economy state in which coal has been a major industry. Newt admitted he's wrong, and I respect that, but if we're going to criticize Santorum for cozying up to unionized coal miners, let's not forget that coal miners and other unionized workers sometimes vote Republican, and if they're going to vote Republican, Santorum is a better candidate to get those “Reagan Democrat” votes.
Reagan Democrats are less important today than they were three decades ago, but they're still important in states like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania — states that the eventual Republican nominee, whoever he is, needs to win to win the presidency.
We'll know a lot more in the next few weeks.