“we can afford having Santorum as the nominee”
Ok. Just so I have it straight.
You’re hoping that the following happens.
1, Newt stays in.
2, that Newt gets enough votes to pick up delegates, while at the same time, depriving Romney of delegates, but not Santorum.
3, Santorum + Newt get enough delegates to force a brokered convention
4, Brokered convention brings out the dark horse candidate to the fore who can beat Obama.
Have I understood you correctly? If I’ve not, please correct me.
Doesn't matter if he takes some from Santorum, as long as he takes enough from Romney. It's the Newt+Santorum total that needs to be enough to have Romney not get 50% + 1 of the delegates.