Is Santorum ready for the fire to come his way?

WashPo ^

[VinL]

Rick Santorum is about to see the kitchen sink up-close. So far he hasn’t been a threat, so he hasn’t faced much harsh scrutiny, much less the attacks that are about to come his way. His candidacy is for real, and Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney both know it.

While Gingrich thought he could isolate Romney and become his lone real competitor, yesterday’s results, combined with a deflating Gingrich campaign, have allowed Santorum to leapfrog Gingrich as the more viable Romney alternative today.

It’s not in Gingrich’s nature to give up. Attacking Romney hasn’t gotten him to where he thought he would be, but at least he was still in the race. Now he must remove Santorum if he has any viable chance at the nomination. I assume his campaign still has some money, and he still has the power of his own lacerating speech.

Romney has developed a tried-and-true formula for the 2012 primaries: Whenever someone presents themselves as a threat, he blasts them with television rating points. It’s the cynical political equivalent of Colin Powell’s “overwhelming force” battle plan. There is no reason to believe Romney won’t use his well-established attack methods on Santorum.

Unfortunately for Santorum, much of what we will learn in the next couple of weeks will appear new — contracts with clients in Washington, his routine dialogue with K Street while he was in the Senate, his particularly vocal anti-gay positions and the reasons for his 17-point reelection defeat in 2006 that amounted to being summarily fired by the voters in his home state.

But Santorum is not naive. He’s been around the big leagues for a long time. So he will do the best he can to be ready. He won’t be defenseless, and he won’t be shy about delivering a counterpunch.

[duffee]

I don’t believe Newt will, I’m sure Romney will and will probably be joined by Paul. Newt is still viable after the carpet bombing, I wonder what they will throw at Rick and if he can keep standing. Romney said the other day and I can’t recall the exact quote but it was something to the effect that if Romney were to lose to obama it would be Newt’s fault for making him spend all his money and not be able to compete.

[Vigilanteman]

Seven reasons for Rick Santorum

1. Who has won the most states without the benefit of their own money, last election's organization or a billionaire casino sugar daddy?
   
2. Who is everybody's second choice when he isn't their first?
   
3. Who can get both the Romney people and the Gingrich people, who hate each other, to vote for him?
   
4. Who has the best record on immigration?
   
5. Who has the best plan for repealing ObamaCare? And is the only GOP candidate who didn't help write or approve legislation which helped spawn this fiasco?
   
6. Who has the best plan for expanding the American economy and strengthening American families?
   
7. Who is the closest thing we have to the "generic Republican" which polls show consistently beating Obama and is most likely to make the election about Obama's sorry record rather than about himself?

[DoughtyOne]

I believe that people respect candor and honesty.

With Santorum, there is going to be a need for him to explain why he did some things he did in the past. This will suffice on some matters. On others there will be a need for him to simply state that he made some mistakes, “This was one of them, and I believe differently today because...”

If he takes this route, and stands in the right position on issues today, he’ll be just fine.

[Lazlo in PA]

Newt has survived just about everything that can be thrown at him and is still standing

Not really. He was given huge sums of cash and was just able to win one state. By some reports, he is broke again. Who is going to give him money now? How is he going to go back to donors and ask them to contribute more with a string of forth and third place finishes under his belt?

He was given every opportunity to take Mittens out and has so far squandered it through focusing on grudge matches with Mittens and veering off message time and again. The CO win for Santorum is important. No one thought he would be able to beat Milt there. He creamed him. If Santorum can make a good showing in MI an OH, he will really be able to prove that he can knock Milt out in his home turf. His message about manufacturing is tailor made for these states and should do will with base voters.

Newt also doesn't seem to be able to knock down his personal negatives in all this. I don't see how that will help in swing states.

[Yorlik803]

If you aint catching flak then you aint over the target.
Bombs away Rick....drop a few on Ron Paul too.

[Vigilanteman]

Yes, you will definitely find some mold, some crumbs and even some dust bunnies in Rick Santorum’s closet. But you'll find no skeletons.

[detective]

“Unfortunately, the attacks have to be responded to.”

If he is directly attacked then he should respond.

But the main message should be the problems are country faces and what will be needed to fix them. He should try to inspire people. He should be real and authentic. Keep the infighting to a necessary minimum.

The same attacks and name calling are getting tiresome. Let Romney waste his money on attack ads.

[Sopater]

“your millions don’t mean much when the American people have shown they do not like you nor do they like your message, nor do they like your tactics. I don’t need to play your stupid game. I’m beating you.”

I certainly do hope that he brings that very message. It's spot on.

[o2bfree]

Obama wants Santorum, blah blah blah, Do I have to hear this on NBC and on Free Republic?

[duffee]

I don’t believe Newt will, I’m sure Romney will and will probably be joined by Paul. Newt is still viable after the carpet bombing, I wonder what they will throw at Rick and if he can keep standing. Romney said the other day and I can’t recall the exact quote but it was something to the effect that if Romney were to lose to obama it would be Newt’s fault for making him spend all his money and not be able to compete.

[Apollo5600]

None of this analysis is really true. I know it is the accepted narrative among Santorumbots, as it came from nasty Santorum himself, but it really isn’t true. Newt still has a strong showing in the south and the more conservative states. The Santorum surge will hopefully only be temporary, otherwise we’ll have to deal with Mr.Bottom Feeder who I don’t think can out bottomfeed Romney.

[JoSixChip]

"The CO win for Santorum is important."

Bull crap! I was at the CO caucuses. A small representation of motivated voters where no delegates were awarded. He has slid under the radar up until now, that's about to end. When you start looking at what he says, you will find that it is not representative of what he does. Take obumbercare for instance, rick is more responsible then any of the candidates for this passing. spector was very narrowly elected because rick supported and campaigned for him. spector was instrumental in getting obumber care passes and gave obumber the cover of bipartisan votes. Then to add insult to injury, spector changed parties. rick is certainly no limited government conservative. In my opinion, he is an opportunistic weasel.

[Bringbackthedraft]

I know it matters, but this total fiasco with this Republican base is not going to win anything. All of the candidates lack gravitas, no fire in them, the Dow is moving up, by September the gas will probably be around $2.50 gal. and by Jan 20th 2013 it will be just another day at the office for Obama. I hate the Idea of a 3rd Party, but maybe they need one to wake them up. We don’t need another Crony in DC, we need new blood. An outsider preferably who owes nothing to anyone. Rots of ruck.

[Mangia E Statti Zitto]

Thank you! I was beginning to doubt my sanity, reading so many posts about how Santorum stayed above the fray, sticking to the issues, never stooping to attack. I remember watching him merrily piling on Newt in the midst of the Romney and establishment bombardment. And now everyone says that Santorum is benefiting from staying out of all the negativity. Reminds me of the kid in the class who takes part in misbehavior then tattles to the teacher.

[Tublecane]

“Rick was wrong in going negative on Newt. Individually, they cannot compete with Romney’s money and attack machine.

Together, they can take down Romney and the GOP-E.”

How do you mean, “together”? The only way that’d work is if one would agree to be the other’s VP. But first of all that wouldn’t be together; it’d be one or the other against Romney. More importantly, neither of them want to do that.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Standing O, ma’am/sir!!!

[Lazlo in PA]

spector was instrumental in getting obumber care passes and gave obumber the cover of bipartisan votes. Then to add insult to injury, spector changed parties.

Thanks for demonstrating you are ill informed on what happened with Spector. First off. Rick was out of office 4 years before Arlen switched. Why did he switch? Because of PAT TOOMEY. He was being creamed in the Primary polls by him . If you want to blame anyone for Spector switching parties and voting for Obamacare, it is strictly with PAT TOOMEY. The man who forced him out.

[Tublecane]

“I think people are getting tired of the constant negatives.”

I don’t. Or if they are, it’s in the same way they’re sick of reality tv or politicians in general. Meaning sick but not sick enoguh to stop it from being effective.

[conservativejoy]

I couldn’t resist turning on Beck this morning to get their reaction to last nights election results. They have been using Santorum as a smoke screen for so long, pretending to support him instead of Romney.

I listened to the program for the first 35 minutes and they mentioned it in One unenthusiastic sentence at the beginning of the program, then not one more word. Bet their faces were a mile long.

[Lazlo in PA]

...otherwise we’ll have to deal with Mr.Bottom Feeder who I don’t think can out bottomfeed Romney.

Beyond you being a Catholic hater, can you point to any tangible evidence of this "bottom feeding" that Santorum is involved in? Maybe contrast that with your candidate.