I could like Santorum on a number of issues, and I give him a BIG thumbs up for the way he talks about freedom, but talk is easy, and specific proposals are hard. Just as bad, so far I’m not seeing anyone effectively responding to the bulk of the questions about him and many of his Senate votes. (See editor-surveyor’s long list on multiple threads, which is part of what got me really doubting; I am not going to repeat it here.)
I saw that long list, too, but who has time to research it all. There is context to consider with most, if not all, of those items. One example: the DOD dropped research on predator drones from their budget, so Santorum got an earmark to pay for continued research. These drones have come in handy in the WOT, but he is stuck with a bad reputation because this was one of his earmarks.