This is exactly how I see it.
Santorum is the same bad candidate he has always been, but he is essentially the last non-Romney standing and base conservatives simply don't have anywhere else to go if they want to register a protest vote.
I support Newt and hope he stays till the end. At least it gives me hope for a miracle. Unfortunately, I've concluded that the very things I like about Gingrich just don't seem to appeal to enough voters. I show his speeches to coworkers and friends and many just say he sounds too "strident" or too "opinionated". I guess, at least so far, Newt is not coming off to the public as the happy warrior I see.
I see that too. IMO, it's because most people don't really listen for ideas and truth. They are seeking to be entertained at all times, because that is what they have been trained (and continue to train themselves) to do. We look at images displayed for us, and naturally choose entertainment value over coherence and common sense, because it's more embarrassing to be fat or unattractive than to hold to stupid and hateful Marxist ideas.
Television has truly destroyed our American culture.
Imagine how different things would be if we had to read the writings of the candidates instead of watching them writhe, slip, and dodge as they struggle with the camera people. "Game face" indeed.
IMO, the end came when Reagan failed to cut off the cancer that Jimmy Carter inflicted upon us with the Department of Education. Bill Ayers and his fellow travelers took it from there, producing America hating Marxist college grads for the past 30 years. They now infest the entire government media complex. Armies of statist, ivy league lawyers (both Obamas come to mind) writing legislation to empower government and themselves.
Soon the memory of freedom and liberty will be gone. Everything comes from the government, either directly or by permit.