Time for Newt to get out of the race and let Santorum go head to head against Romney. Rick is the most conservative candidate left in the race.
Naw, Mitt is going to dump the slime pit on Rick to make sure he takes Ohio. That’s when he takes his eye off Newty, and the Newtster can land a massive Super Tuesday sucker punch on him. Santorum is just the bait for the trap...
As tempting as it might be to say things like that — I've been getting annoyed with some of the Newt Gingrich supporters accusing Santorum of staying in merely for egotistical reasons or as part of a hidden plan to help Romney win — it's too early to call for any candidate who appeals to a significant part of the Republican Party electorate to pull out.
There are people who are strongly committed to Newt Gingrich and believe Rick Santorum is not the right person to carry the Republican banner into the November elections. I don't happen to agree; I think Newt Gingrich has serious baggage and will cause real problems if nominated. However, I am painfully aware that both Gingrich and Santorum have serious difficulties, I've been unhappy for a very long time that we didn't get better candidates to run this year, and I'm not going to call for Gingrich backers to fold their cards and go home.
Gingrich can't win this fall without social issues voters, most of whom are evangelical Christians and conservative Roman Catholics. Santorum can't win this fall without the voters from the other two wings of the Republican Party — economic conservatives and military/national defense conservatives — and while South Carolina showed that Gingrich can win in the heart of the Bible Belt, Gingrich does significantly better among people who are not self-identified “values voters.”
Let's see what happens over the next few weeks.