None of the four do, except Newt, IMO. Thus, my goal would be for the race to stay muddied until Newt can rally - IF he can rally - and I am not sure whether or not that is possible. So no, I am not in a rush to promote Santorum too fast because I think a Santorum nomination damns us to the following possible outcomes:
A: he is totally rejected by the American public because in a two man race his pettiness and snarkiness and self righteousness cannot be hidden the way it was in an 8 person field and therefore we have an absolute disaster in November 2012
B: he wins the Presidency because Obama is weak, but governs as GWB without the charm, damning us to higher spending and congressional losses and a disaster in 2014 and again 2016 where we get the next Obama.
No real country again for at least 20 years or more.
I’m sorry, that’s how I see it with Santorum. In other words, for the rest of the life expectancy of many on FR, the nation is screwed. Just cannot get on board with that now.
I do not think Santorum would be as horrible as you are suggesting, my take is that both the conservatives (yes, an 88 ACU rating is conservative) in the race, Newt and then Santorum would do well in the race, whereas it will be easier for the dems to take out Romney than the other two.
Santorum has his baggage (heck, so does Newt, BIGTIME), but I think you may be exaggerating Santorum's problems.
At this point, it is my belief that neither of them can stand against Romney without the other staying in the race. Romney will be able to focus on only one with his scorched earth tactics if the other leaves the race, but if he has to do it to both, he exposes himself, uses more of his campaign chest, and becomes weaker. If Newt and Santorum do not tag team Mitt back, he will win.
If Newt does not win, I can support Santorum, it is Romney who is the candidate of death, the only one IMHO that cannot win against Obama.