Santorum as Lucky Pierre
Santorum doesn't need major money in New Hampshire which is a good thing for him because he doesn't yet have the funds or organization of other main Republican primary opponents. He could be the "Lucky Pierre" of this primary and in South Carolina. Lucky Pierre is the person in the middle of three people sitting on a bench and passing something to share - a bag of Skittles, a bottle of booze, or something to smoke - lucky Pierre gets twice as much.
Santorum has Paul and Gingrich on either side. While Santorum will not be totally immune from attention, the primary focus of their media assault in the upcoming states will be Romney. That benefits Santorum tangentially, and he can ride his performance in Iowa to, perhaps, a respectable if losing showing in the upcoming states.
The media pretty much ignored Santorum until about two weeks ago. All of the focus on him was distilled into the 10 days before the Iowa caucuses. With an alarming lack of homework done, the media stories basically echoed Santorum's description of himself. Anyone with the ability to read a newspaper or watch a television news program got his message, "fresh as a daisy". He does not necessarily now need to have been out shaking every hand in the upcoming states.
At long last, there is now some examination of Santorum's history underway. While there are anomalies in his record that defy an easy label, his incessant pandering to K Street and his relentless exploitation of issues surrounding homosexuality and women's rights in hysterical self-serving fashion were abysmal aspects of his years in the Senate.
For now, Gingrich's highly personal campaign against Romney and Paul's libertarian crusade against "establishment types" like Romney will benefit Santorum. He will not win New Hampshire and will be only a "credible" long shot to do so in South Carolina with Perry splitting the vote tallies even more, but with the ways things have played out he will do better than anyone thought possible just month ago in those two states.
He is a differentiated candidate. Whatever one thinks about it, just the "take the dead baby home" story makes that very clear.
Santorum has Paul and Gingrich on either side. While Santorum will not be totally immune from attention, the primary focus of their media assault in the upcoming states will be Romney. That benefits Santorum tangentially, and he can ride his performance in Iowa to, perhaps, a respectable if losing showing in the upcoming states.
The media pretty much ignored Santorum until about two weeks ago. All of the focus on him was distilled into the 10 days before the Iowa caucuses. With an alarming lack of homework done, the media stories basically echoed Santorum's description of himself. Anyone with the ability to read a newspaper or watch a television news program got his message, "fresh as a daisy". He does not necessarily now need to have been out shaking every hand in the upcoming states.
At long last, there is now some examination of Santorum's history underway. While there are anomalies in his record that defy an easy label, his incessant pandering to K Street and his relentless exploitation of issues surrounding homosexuality and women's rights in hysterical self-serving fashion were abysmal aspects of his years in the Senate.
For now, Gingrich's highly personal campaign against Romney and Paul's libertarian crusade against "establishment types" like Romney will benefit Santorum. He will not win New Hampshire and will be only a "credible" long shot to do so in South Carolina with Perry splitting the vote tallies even more, but with the ways things have played out he will do better than anyone thought possible just month ago in those two states.
He is a differentiated candidate. Whatever one thinks about it, just the "take the dead baby home" story makes that very clear.
posted by John Borden at 4:12 PM
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