[iowamark]

Santorum did relatively well in 2012, winning 11 states. Gingrich won SC and Georgia and Romney won the rest. However, he did not keep up his organization in the last three years and really faces an uphill battle now.

[Boogieman]

Yeah, but remember, Santorum wasn’t many people’s first choice back then even. He picked up a lot of votes from other conservative candidates who were dropping out after the media started targeting them in succession (or who became victims of the circular firing squad).

I think he only managed to get so many states because he was kind of the last man standing who might have been able to stop Romney. I think we’ve got a more solid slate of candidates this time, so I doubt he will find a similar opportunity.

[Will88]

Santorum did relatively well in 2012, winning 11 states.

But how many did he win before it was obvious Romney had won the primaries? Santorum hung around and won several states after Romney had won it, and most other candidates had dropped out.

I think Huckabee did the same thing in 2008. But it's how many votes and states did someone win while the primary race was still competitive that really matters.'