Weill I’ll vote Santorum in the general if it comes to that too - and I don’t disagree with you on Newt’s campaign. They have made some very bad decisions - which has played into Santorum’s hands in a lot of ways.
First was Bain Capital, when Mitt (and Rick by the way) were piling onto Newt in Iowa.
Newt’s decision makers (and Newt himself) decided to skip Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri for typical inside the beltway reasons (very few official delegates, etc) So did Mitt.
Santorum went, won them, even though the total vote count for all three states combined was less than SC by itself - he got “credit” in the public’s mind for “three state wins.”
It was vapor — and the key word WAS. It is not vapor anymore. He did parlay that into much more momentum than it should have gotten him. But it worked.
The problem is - this is no way to win the general. All of these states, except SC, have had low turn outs. Tennessee was about even on turn out, and that is Santroum’s best win IMO. Mitt’s scorched earth and Santorum’s niche politics are winning now, but neither strategy can possibly win in Nov.
That is scary. Does it make me nervous that we are going to pick the wrong candidate. Heck yeah. I swear if Newt is the guy to win the general, I would be behind him immediately. He just has to win AL AND MS, but he also needs to win some states outside the state. This is why I know he loves Ronald Reagan because he is following Reagan’s Southern Strategy of 1976, but Reagan did not get enough delegates because he did not get enough outside the South. Newt is doing the same thing which is fine, but going outside the South is crucial and Kansas would have been an outstanding opportunity, but alas he has decided not to compete there either. Anyway good luck Newt in AL and MS.