Santorum's surge began when he took Mitt Romney apart limb by limb in the final Florida debate. Everyone with half an ounce of neutrality acknowledges that Santorum won that debate.
So, Santorum is a better debater than Romney, he has far less baggage than Romney, he is a real conservative with a lifetime 80 rating from ACU, he is the best pro-life candidate from the beginning of this primary season, and he has a streak of Reagan in that he wants the free market to work for the working, middle class.
He is not as good a debater as Gingrich is when Gingrich is on his game. That's a given. Very few are....maybe Cheney. Gingrich is on his game about every other debate.
So, I could easily support either a Newt/Rick or Rick/Newt ticket.
But, the Real Clear Politics average of the last 4 or 5 polls has Santorum in the lead. It is what it is.
I'm not neutral, I prefer Newt, but Santorum did the best in that debate.
Gingrich is on his game about every other debate.
Newt is on his game a lot more than that, but his last two were a lot weaker than normal and it hurt him since his support had come from people watching how well he had done in the prior debates.
Santorum is Bush I in a sweater vest- extremely timid & weak, and is easily flustered and agitated when confronted. Sadly, this does not play well on t.v. He’s already being successfully labeled as a right wing religious fanatic who will take away your contraception. He does not know how to handle the media, and will easily be destroyed by them. His macaca moment is coming.
Newt on the other hand is more conservative than Little Ricky, isn’t afraid to stick it to Obama and the media, and has bold plans to take our country back from the socialists. Yes, he’s had 3 wives- I don’t care. He’s clearly our best chance to win against Obama.