I despise Mitt, but, he could gut out a win in November; no way Santorum wins. Santorum will let Obama pull off a 34-36 state blowout.
And this talk that Santorum will put PA in play? That’s akin to saying Blanche Lincoln could help the Rats carry AR.
Santorum would make a good UN Ambassador.
Rick Santorum was elected to the House in 1990 in a Pittsburgh-area district that had voted heavily for Dukakis in 1988, and, after redistricting, was elected in 1992 in a district where Dukakis had won by an even more lopsided margin (60-40, IIRC). In 1994, he was elected to the Senate against an incumbent Democrat who just 3 years earlier had defeated the best possible GOP nominee—former two-term Governor and 1988-91 U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh—by 10%. Santorum was reelected to the Senate in 2000, running 6% ahead of President Bush in PA (santorum won by almost 7% while Bush was losing by 4%).
While Santorum lost reelection by 19% in 2006, he ran up against a perfect storm of (i) facing a statewide officeholder who happened to be the extremely popular son and namesake of the late, beloved, legendary, pro-life Democrat Governor Bob Casey, (ii) having pissed off liberals and moderates with his comments—taken out of context by the media—about how the Lawrence SCOTUS decision striking down a state law prohibiting homosexual sodomy could lead to polygamy and bestiality being afforded constitutional protection in the future, (iii) having pissed off conservatives due to his endorsement, under pressure from President Bush, of RINO Senator Specter in 2004, and (iv) facing the worst electoral environment for Republicans since the Watergate elections of 1974. The 2006 results don’t change the fact that Santorum has proven ability to win blue-collar and Democrat votes, and he could be a formidable candidate in 2012.
PA is already in play, Bush almost won it in 2004 and Obama did only a few points better than Kerry did. I think it's 50/50 if Santorum is the nominee, slightly less if Romney is.