Santorum is NOT a small government fiscal conservative, pure and simple. He’s a big government compassionate conservative with a social conservative bent. You don’t have to look for nepharious reasons for folks to not back Santorum, his record, not his rhetoric, give plenty of fodder to why he isn’t backed by this person or that person.
My biggest opposition to him, is I saw him get completely distroyed first hand in 06, and have no confidence the exact same template used against him then by the left, with great success won’t be used again to equal success. I’m already seeing it start to bubble in the press, and believe like it or not, he will wind up with the same result.
I will vote for the Republican canidate no matter who it is, but I saw how santorum was completely painted as too radical in 06 for the electorate, very successfully and him not able to respond or diffuse it at all, and I see the same thing happening if he is the nominee this year.
Your fears are real and sit in the back of the minds of many voters. It is not how a winning election goes forward. We need a confident leader.