Rick Santorum may have sounded like a man who was determined to fight Mitt Romney to the bitter end last week. But that defiant tone and the wild talk about comparisons of his effort to Ronald Reagan’s duel with Gerald Ford was apparently merely the last gasp of his underdog run for the presidency. Today, Santorum bowed to reality and announced the suspension of his campaign. With Newt Gingrich already having acknowledged that Romney was the likely nominee, Santorum’s speech marks the informal end of the Republican presidential contest.
Some may believe that his decision is related to his daughter Bella’s serious illness. But because Santorum embarked on his run and continued it despite her being hospitalized earlier this year, it is more likely that he and his inner circle took a hard look at his prospects in the upcoming Pennsylvania Primary and concluded that he was heading for a humiliating loss in his home state. Despite the brave talk from the Santorum camp about their chances of denying Romney a majority of delegates, it was already clear it was just a matter of time until he clinched the nomination. While the rest of the year will be about Romney taking on President Obama, it’s fair to ask whether today’s announcement is the last moment Santorum will have on the national political scene.
It is telling that at no moment in his 20-minute speech today did Santorum mention the man who bested him. Though earlier in the race, he seemed to have become the nice guy in the race while Romney and Gingrich tore each other apart, it turns out that he, rather than the former speaker, was the one who took the rough and tumble of the campaign personally. While Santorum had to play the practical politician at times when he was in the Senate leadership, he is at heart, a true believer in the social conservative faith he espoused during the last year. It’s clear he has little use for Romney and isn’t aiming for either a role in the nominee’s fall campaign or a place in his administration. Though he concluded that the Ronald Reagan scenario he seemed to be sketching last week would be rendered implausible by defeat in Pennsylvania, he may still be thinking that he can pick up the pieces of a broken Republican Party after a Romney defeat this fall.
This is a scenario that will be scoffed at by many in the party who believe Santorum can never be elected president. Should Romney lose in November, there will be no shortage of Republican stars who will look like plausible candidates in 2016. But even if his social conservatism makes him a poor bet for the future, should the moderate winner of the GOP nomination fall short again this year, Santorum will be among the first names you hear next winter when pundits begin speculating about the next presidential election.
The bitter end of his effort ought not to obscure just how much Santorum accomplished in the last year. His was among the most unlikely candidacies when he first announced last summer. But he outlasted a succession of better-funded conservative alternatives and turned out to be the only person in the field who ever gave Romney much of a run for his money. The reason for his success stemmed from his ability to tap into the energy and the passion of evangelical voters desirous of a GOP candidate who espoused their views on social issues. If those evaluating the 2008 campaign gave Mike Huckabee credit for his far more limited success and even thought him a plausible GOP contender this year, why wouldn’t Santorum’s more impressive showing not earn him a place at the table four years from now?
Should Santorum run again, and now that he has had a taste of presidential politics, I think that’s more than likely, he would have a good chance of retaining the loyalty of evangelicals and would have four years to prepare a better financed and more organized presidential campaign.
But for any of that to happen, Romney has to lose. Should he win, today may well prove to be Santorum’s last hurrah.
I'm not so sure. I am a strong Santorum supporter – I love the guy, as he is a great friend of the Jewish people and he fights for Torah values. But I'm just not sure there is a strong groundswell of support for Rick as the Champion of our values. I hope I'm wrong – I really do. But I think Palin may be the one who has to carry the torch. I will fight hard for a Romney victory and hope that he doesn't let us down. But a Romney presidency is not tantalizing as a Santorum or Palin presidency would be. G-d bless Rick! He is a Mensch!
The guy is a classless boor with a very nasty, petty streak and pious pretensions. It amazes me that I agree with so much of his agenda when I see it in writing or presented by someone other than the candidate himself. Yet when those words and contentions fall out of the mouth of Rick Santorum, with that sharply pointed nose hovering over them, I want to throw up (to use a favorite Rickism). Truly, in the case of Rick Santorum, his tone and style completely drown his message. n nI agree he'll be back if Romney does not prevail. But without a complete personality transplant Santorum will not get a second look from me. It will be interesting to see whether Roger Ailes finds him re-hirable.
Sarah Palin didn't go away after the 2008 election. The Tea Party didn't vanish after the 2010 election. Rick Santorum won't disappear now. Like Palin, Santorum is a free agent. As such, he'll be much more influential than he could ever be as an elected official. n nConservatives have a future. Moderates have nothing but the increasingly irrelevant Republican Party.
Thank you, Robert. (I, Claudius?) … I am no Palin fan, but the how anyone can see Romney as a viable moderate is beyond me. After (woefully) Obama is a two-termer … notice: the sainted independents all these "electability" merchants adore are fleeing Romney in droves … a genuine conservative will come up, and that may be Governor Santorum, post-book.
Santorum can speak to a 'victimhood' of the far right in the same way Sharpton can peddle similar nonsense to the forever agitated far left – I suppose he has a future of some kind doing that – but the man is utterly unelectable come a general type election and if he doesn't understand that yet it's a perfect example of why it's true. Good riddance sweater vest.
The idea that that whiny, nasty, boorish, verbally inept 18% loser would be a serious candidate is laughable. That "angry every man" persona will not play outside of a few hard core social con who believe in"culture wars". How did that do for Pat Buchanan in 1992?
From my husband, Charles: Rick Santorum honestly has more talent, more experience, and does love Israel. He ran a fine race. Outspent sometimes 12-1, he had integrity, genuine integrity, a quality so undervalued in our political life. He, more than Romney, refused to run on negativity alone. We may not have always seen eye to eye, but, alas, Mitt is so rarely a champion of any one thing for any period of time. I never saw Rick as angry; it was he in the debates who challenged Romney and Gingrich to set the negativity aside, when he was outpaced by both. There is a tragedy here. Money, the media – the create the narrative, and when the Senator did not share any of their views, the senator's every win became a story about "When will Mitt close it …" bizarre.
The Republican field will be very rich in 2016, and Santorum will be top tier by that time. n nJindal from Louisiana, McDonnell from Virginia, Christie from New Jersey, Rubio from Florida, etc., etc., etc. n nThese are all winners (some two time winners). n nNot sure why we would run with someone who lost a Senate seat. . . . n n
Although Santorum espoused some worthy ideals. But I must agree that I too found him difficult to like. n nIt is obvious that Romney is the nominee and I think it is time to unite in order to defeat Obama. n nIf we are unable to remove Obama, I hope that Governor Rick Perry will return to the national scene in 2016.
Rick is a nice, decent human being which is probably why squish don't like him. Just by being a good person he makes lesser people feel lesser, look at many of the above comments. It is the union thug mentality, "Hey you're making the rest of us look bad, don't work so hard." It is the same reason some people hate Tim Tebow. He is decent and it makes them feel worse about their own inadequacy. Even though Tim and Rick don't attack people some people feel defensive because they know they don't measure up. I am sad to see Rick suspend his campaign but I can't begrudge him wanting to spend as much time as possible with his sick daughter (to the haters, I remind you he took time off from the campaign and was at the hospital with his daughter during her earlier illness). I wish them both the best and a mighty strength of the creator of creation.
I think the best, most original part of Santorum's message is how he ties the social values to economic topics. He is correct that the decline of the family has led to the declining economic situation of many Americans. n nAs we finally come to realize that money does not grow on trees, even in Dem controlled gardens, that message will become even more important. n nAnother admirable quality that Santorum has is his willingness to work hard. n nWill he be back? I hope so.
Oy, I have to respond to me own comment to stipulate that my wish to see Santorum on the stage again does NOT mean I hope Romney loses!
Santorum has proven himself to be permanently angry, uncommonly nasty, inept, and inarticulate (the guy is one candidate who desperately needed a Teleprompter). His transitory success was entirely attributable to his being the last not Romney standing. Comparisons to Reagan should be laughed out of the room. As for 2016 if Romney loses, Santorum will have to get past a lot more formidable competitors than Herman Cain — Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Ryan, McDonnell, Jindal, Haley, et al. It's a very long list of leaders who make Santorum look like the small crab-faced word-challenged loser he is.
If the Republican nominee loses to Obama in November…we won't have a 2016 election. We won't even have an America that anyone will recognize.