Posted on 02/17/2012 5:48:02 AM PST by Kaslin
In a campaign defined by Republican reluctance to embrace Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum has emerged as the latest not-Romney candidate to surge ahead. While it's impossible to predict what will happen in this volatile election season, the data suggests that Santorum might be more of a challenge for Romney than earlier flavors of the month.
The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of the GOP race shows that Rick Santorum leads Mitt Romney by 12 points, 39 percent to 27 percent. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are far behind. In and of itself, that's nothing new. The man from Massachusetts has at times trailed Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich in the polls.
What is new are the numbers from a head-to-head matchup with no other candidates in the race. Santorum leads Romney 55 percent to 34 percent. None of the earlier Romney alternatives could manage better than a toss-up in such a contest.
Those numbers show that Santorum picks up 16 points when other candidates drop out. Romney adds just 7 to his column. Santorum makes huge gains among conservative voters when others drop out of the race. Among non-conservatives, Santorum and Romney gain roughly equal amounts. For the first time, the numbers show that if one of Romney's challengers drops out, the other challenger will overwhelmingly benefit. Gingrich supporters, by a three-to-one margin, would vote for Santorum over Romney if that was the final choice.
Both Romney and Santorum are well-liked by Republican Primary voters, but Santorum has a slight advantage on this pointm as well. Seventy-five percent offer a favorable opinion of Santorum, while 66 percent say the same of Romney.
There is a huge passion gap favoring Santorum, though. Forty percent of Republican primary voters have a very favorable opinion of Santorum. Just 18 percent are that enthusiastic about Romney.
The one thing keeping Romney afloat is that he is still perceived as the strongest general election candidate. For some Republicans, that's enough. But to survive the Santorum challenge, Romney needs to give primary voters something more, something positive. GOP voters want a reason to vote for him beyond the fact that he has the most money and the best organization.
Team Romney needs to acknowledge that Republican voters are not only strongly opposed to President Obama's agenda but that they don't think much of Washington Republicans, either. They want a president who would shake up the good old boys network in Washington rather than join it. To date, Romney's attitude signals that he'd be more comfortable leading the club than challenging it.
Santorum has a very different challenge. First, he must survive the onslaught of ads coming from the Romney campaign. Then, he must convince Republican voters that he can win the general election in November. Electability is still the most important factor for Republican voters. If Santorum can neutralize the electability argument, he could become Romney's worst nightmare.
The next primary competitions are slated for Feb. 28 in Arizona and Michigan. If Romney wins both states, the race will probably be over. However, if Santorum can pull off a victory that day, he will be far more than the latest flavor of the month.
Every bit of your info is Romney Slime Machine opposition research that is totally unable to be verified.
Think about it: "arrogant"? I've met the man, and I disagree. Not even close.
How do you defend yourself against that kind of slime?
Earmarks I simply don't care about. I want as much of my tax money as possible back in my own district.
You have him being both "compliant" and "bucking the leadership". He backs Specter for the team, because Bush asks him to, and he's bad for that. He backs an increased debt limit because Bush asks it, and he's bad for that. He backs the Bush medicare prescription stuff, and he's bad because he does that.
No one can win against the Romney Slime Machine, and Romney is far more liberal. But, he knows all he has to do is introduce to conservatives a bit of "impurity" in perceived conservatism, and the conservatives will eat their own guy on Romney's behalf.
It's amazing how gullible conservatives are.
I’ve supported Santorum since before Iowa.
I feel compelled to say it...he looks like Jerry Seinfeld.
Oh well, maybe Kramer would make a good Secretary of Interior or something.
First, it's definately NOT a Romeny link. Pennsylvanian's don't need Romney to show what we've known for sometime concerning Rickie...Here again is the link....shall I post other links as well just so you know? How many will satisfy you? Understand I live in Pa. Rick is no stranger to us....nor can he pull the wool over our eyes.
Read more http://hillbuzz.org/why-rick-santorums-pennsylvania-residency-scam-and-school-tuition-fraud-still-matters-and-why-he-cant-be-the-nominee-because-of-it-95754
Additionallly Santorum loves to sponser "spending" bills, in fact he won the prize for doing just that as follows:
In the 2003-2004 session of Congress, Santorum sponsored or cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending,... and failed to sponsor or co-sponsor even one spending cut proposal.
In his last Congress (2005-2006), he had one of the biggest spending agendas of any Republican -- sponsoring more spending increases than Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Lincoln Chafee and Thad Cochran or Democrats Herb Kohl, Evan Bayh and Ron Wyden.
Santorum also supported raising congressional pay at least three times, in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
In the years that followed his controversial support of Specter, Santorum has offered a series of revisionist explanations. Those explanations have changed several times, and none of them are consistent with what he said during the 2004 campaign.
..... The only explanation that is consistent is political expediency. .... Santorum was willing to jettison conservative principles when it suited him in 2004, and he wants to try to explain it away when it no longer suits him on the 2012 presidential campaign trail.
that would be me.
I thought you were kidding. Not the economy, not gas prices, not the violations of our civil liberties, but... pornography causes brain damage. Anyone who thinks the libs won't make hash out of idiocy like that is crazy. People are already mad at Obama for wanting to tell people what to read and download. That crazy crap will make Santorum look like the Ayatollah, and it's right there on his website.
How many people are really going to get their back all arched over porn? People that weren’t already bent on voting for a second term of Obama no matter what?
Maybe porn damages brains and maybe it doesn’t, but its usage can damage minds, hearts, souls, and families. Something need not be banned to be warned about.
That’s his priority. It is the very stereotype of conservatives, a bunch of meddlers in people’s private business. We have lost election after election because of it. I couldn’t believe that’s his top priority with the whole country a craven mess.
I'm pretty ambivalent here. I detest Romney, think Santorum is a loser, and reluctantly support Gingrich because that's all there is.
And your spamming is to promote a LIAR who is against a conservative with PRO AMERICAN accomplishments. Rick is a play tool of mitt, the one he campaigned for in 08. ONLY the dumbest of the dumb would fall for the liar/deceiver - slick Rick.
Slick lawyer politicians fooling voters - how novel. And voters falling for it - how novel. Nothing is new under the sun.
That’s a compliment coming from one who embraces evil - in fact, it’s to be expected for they HATE the TRUTH to be spoken. And it shows why you are drawn to the liar lawyer slick rick.
Santorum is green and could stand to focus-group better.
That said I’m not sure he’s got bad advice on how to list issues. People who read a list of issues (or of anything) actually remember the last things on that list the best, the first things next best, and the things in the middle the least well. Of course it defeats that purpose if people go to his website, say eww this guy has an obsession with porn (even though not true) and read nothing more on the list.
>> Santorum is green and could stand to focus-group better.
He is indeed green. Maybe in 2020.
He’s gotta ditch the look of disbelief, or at least utter a WTF here and there. Sarah’s got that all figured out.
Before you make that choice, study up on Santorum.
Rick is mitt’s little side kick, both liars because they have no accomplishments. And will betray anyone when it’s for their agenda. He betrayed PA and they gave him the boot!
And now he’s betraying the country.
Rick is mitt’s little side kick, both liars because they have no accomplishments. And will betray anyone when it’s for their agenda. He betrayed PA and they gave him the boot!
Leopards and liars don’t change.
Newt is very Romney-esque when he claims that the “contract with America” was anything but cover for government to grow exponentially...which it did under his “leadership”. He even admitted it was a failure. Keep it up...the more people learn about Nootered Noot’s REAL record the better.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2813320/posts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=FlFxh2JychU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=eyeB36ctO5I&NR=1
I was one of the Bush-bots on FR during his entire 2 terms. He did ask for support in those things, and he did get it.
Except for Dubai Ports, whasername for the Scotus appointment, amnesty, and his unfathomable decision never to defend his war on substance rather than excuse, Bush got what he wanted from his compatriots in terms of budget and spending.
That’s why every bit of this navel-inspecting is simply Romney going after “conservative purity” because he knows it will have conservatives fight each other and give him a leg up. He’s used it throughout this campaign, and apparently, it’s still working.
You’re not going to find a “Romney Link” as you say to Time Magazine, but it’s no accident they suddenly came up with an out-of-context “dangers of contraception” quote from Santorum.
The coffee is on and the fragrace wafts through the house. The alarm clock is now ringing.
Santorum is not perfect, but there is no doubt in my mind he was a strong Reagan supporter in his youth and if elected he’d probably govern very closely to the way RR did. As an aside, I believe he is the only candidate who would make positive steps to reverse the homosexualization and feminization of the military, which I would strongly support.
Santorum is not perfect, but there is no doubt in my mind he was a strong Reagan supporter in his youth and if elected he’d probably govern very closely to the way RR did. As an aside, I believe he is the only candidate who would make positive steps to reverse the homosexualization and feminization of the military, which I would strongly support.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.