Iowa's Final Flavor of the Month?

The American Spectator ^ | December 29, 2011 | Robert Stacy McCain

[Cincinatus' Wife]

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Rick Santorum took time to shake the hands of everyone who attended his "Faith, Family & Freedom Rally" here Wednesday night, and stayed nearly an hour after the scheduled end of the event to answer questions from the Republican audience. Only then did he take time to talk to the press.

"People are trying to determine right now, 'Who can we really trust?'" the former Pennsylvania senator told a small group of reporters at a brief impromptu press conference after the event. "I think it's going to build. I feel very good that we're not going to stop there and, hopefully, keep moving up the ladder."

The Republican presidential candidate was responding to the latest Iowa poll by CNN and Time magazine that shows him now in third place in the Hawkeye State, moving ahead of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The poll confirmed the widespread impression of many Iowa-watchers that Santorum's low-budget campaign is surging in the final days leading up to next Tuesday's precinct caucuses. According to the CNN/Time poll, Santorum's support has increased from 5 percent to 16 percent in the past three weeks, while Gingrich's support has collapsed from 33 percent to 14 percent.

Santorum refused to speculate on how far "up the ladder" he might climb by the time votes are counted Jan. 3. "No, I'm not going to pick a number and no, I'm not going to tell you what place I'm going to finish," he told reporters.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

SANTORUM (53) – lawyer [Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. – D.C. and Pittsburg offices since ’07] – Fox News Contributor - 16 years public office, U.S. House of Represenatatives, Pennsylvania [1991-95] - U. S. Senator [1995-07] lost bid for 3rd term by largest margin in PA GOP history]; author

BACHMANN (55) – lawyer – Minnesota State Senate [2003-07]; U.S. House of Representatives [MN] [2007- _____] 8 years public office ; political activist; foster parent; 2011 autobiography

ROMNEY (64) – lawyer – Bain Capital – Massachusetts Governor [2003-07] 4 years public office, plus additional 6+ years running; 1994 U.S. Senator [MA] bid – lost; U.S. Presidential bids [2008, 2012]; author

PAUL (76) - U.S. House of Representatives [TX] - 20 years + 6-8 odd years running - Libertarian presidential bid [1988] – GOP presidential bids [2008-2012] -- U.S. Air Force flight surgeon [1963-65/Natl G. 1965-68] – OBGYN; author

GINGRICH (68) – U.S. House of Representatives [GA] - 20 years [Speaker 1995-99] Resigned from U.S. House of Rep after win - Fox News Contributor – adviser - speaker – author

PERRY (61) - Texas Governor [2000 - ______] – 20 years public office: TX Lt. Gov [1999-’00]; TX Agriculture Commissioner [1991-99]; TX House of Rep [1985-91] ; Cotton Farmer [8 years]; Captain, U.S. Air Force pilot [1972- 77]; author

[Linda Frances]

I’m voting for Santorum.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I’m supporting Perry.

[duckman]

“PAUL (76) - U.S. House of Representatives [TX] - 20 years + 6-8 odd years running -...”
He’s been “odd” for more than 6-8 years. IMO

[heiss]

I think people are waking up.

Romney and Newt are both what outsider would call moderare republican, or freepers would call liberal. Newt was more conservative in the 1990s and more liberal in in the last 10 years. He was number one establishnent enemy of the emerging tea party, he led the opposition in ny23 against conservative and demanded that conservatives support that lesbian love activist, acorn supported Dede S.
Newt led the attack against Ryan’s pending reforms (and Newt’s line about radical rightwingers will be seen in dems tv ads).
Newt joined Global Warming scam and “strongly supported cap and trade in distant past of 2007”. Newt supports ethanol subsidies and amnesty for illegal immigrants. His amnesty plan would permanently slide US into third world country. Yes, he is not mormon (the issue for.some who publicly said so) but in policy level Newt is radical leftwing social engineer.

Santorum is the best hope for conservatives. It seems Bachmann and Perry are not catching on, so conservative vote can make Santorum the surprise, like huck in 2008.

[Oceander]

Santorum is the best hope for conservatives? Please. Perry is the best hope for conservatives, but most of us are too da*med blinded by ideological purity and the lies of the MSM to see that.

[Old Badger]

I’ll support anyone coming out of these primaries ................ EXCEPT Romney, and I’ll have to go into therapy in order to support Ron Paul!

[normy]

I like Santorum but the GOP media are pushing this awfully hard. It's nice to hear good news as a candidate but Perry was at 16% last week in an IA poll and it was barely mentioned.

I have never seen an election where the "conservative" media and the GOP have tried to divide and conquer the Conservative base.

What I am hearing though is Bachmann and Newt are dropping in Iowa and the two Ricks are rising.

The biggest problem I see with Santorum is the same thing I see with all our candidates. There is no record to run against Obama with while he has been President.

Socially the Ricks are very similar but record wise Perry has a very successful one to counter the eventual Obama argument that he "inherited Bush's economy".

Perry has the answer to that and the facts show why we should have handled things like Perry did in Texas as opposed to how Obama did in DC. I think that will be what beats Obama.

[Oceander]

* * *

Socially the Ricks are very similar but record wise Perry has a very successful one to counter the eventual Obama argument that he "inherited Bush's economy".

Perry has the answer to that and the facts show why we should have handled things like Perry did in Texas as opposed to how Obama did in DC. I think that will be what beats Obama.

You make a very important point. Both Perry and Obama "inherited" a government structure and an economy from GWB, which should provide a valuable basis for comparison of the two and their respective governing philosophies and policy choices.

Obama cannot win that comparison, period, and that is why - provided the GOP is smart enough to hammer on that comparison relentlessly (unfortunately, as too many on this forum illustrate, the GOP seems prepared to disappoint once again) - Perry stands a much better chance of actually beating Obama than do any of the others, including flava-of-the-day Santorum.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Gov. Perry is right — Long past time to send the D.C. ruling class back to their states part of the year - get work and live under what they’ve wrought.

[normy]

Once you brush aside all the emotional or personal feeling aside, this has always been why Perry can beat Obama.

The GOP thinks Mitt stands the best chance but Obama will paint him as a Wall Streeter who was part of the problem he inherited from Bush. You just see Obama speaking from the teleprompter "well, huh, huh, ya know, we were dealt a pretty bad hand...the uh..car was..ya know..in the ditch. Don't give the keys back to the same..uh..guys who crashed it. We're just starting to ..uh..pull it out but..you know it's gonna take time. It's happening but you gotta have patience on this."

Perry can say "Well Obama you may not noticed this but the car is actually a 4x4. In Texas we just got out, locked the hubs by cutting spending and keeping regulation in check and signing things like tort reform, and drove it out and we're back on the road. Texas will have a 1.6 billion dollar surplus by the time our part time congress meets again to pass the next budget. We created 45% of all the jobs in the USA right down there in Texas while you and your solutions not only lost 2 million jobs but put us 4 trillion in debt and cut our bond rating and that doesn't even account for your foreign policy disaster leading to our drop in respect around the globe and loss of trust amongst our allies."

[heiss]

Perry is acceptable, but I still don’t trust him in amnesty. His most recent statements in campaign website are ok, but his earlier statements are scary. He seems to be hedging his bets. His job as a candidate was to assure people but he has failed.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The D.C. Ruling class and the MSM want pliable, moderate Romney (or big government solutions Gingrich). The idea of D.C. outside Rick Perry, who actually will make changes to their elite structure (and seal the border and NO amnesty), scares the hell out of ‘em, so they employ news blackouts or news beat downs for Perry.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Santorum is Romney’s best hope to win Iowa.

I smell a rat, a big fat media rat trying to pimp Santorum at the last minute to divide the conservative vote just enough to let Romney slip in for the win with his meager 25% that he has had all year.

[Yaelle]

Socially the Ricks are very similar but record wise Perry has a very successful one to counter the eventual Obama argument that he “inherited Bush’s economy”.

---

But perry would blow that excellent point trying to articulate it. He just can’t speak.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

....but his earlier statements are scary....

Please say what scared you.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

But perry would blow that excellent point trying to articulate it. He just can’t speak.

Even the biased MSM has left that one behind.

[Yaelle]

What are our goals? Could our vote get split because we all don’t prioritize the same? Maybe this needs a vanity thread.

[Oceander]

Perry is acceptable, but I still don’t trust him in amnesty. His most recent statements in campaign website are ok, but his earlier statements are scary. He seems to be hedging his bets. His job as a candidate was to assure people but he has failed.

Fair enough; however, the potential risks of some sort of amnesty under a President Perry pale in comparison to the much higher risks of that under a President Romney and the near certainty of that under a President Obama; furthermore, while the risks of that under a President Gingrich are probably about as high as those under a President Perry, Perry still has a very strong record of positive, conservative governance that no other candidate can match, that even Obama cannot match.

More to the point, one should not dismiss Perry out of hand simply because his record as governor has a few non-conservative blemishes on it: not even Reagan's record as governor of California - or even as President of the US - was unblemished. What matters is the cumulative effect of that record: in balance, was it more conservative than not? On that measure, I think that Perry's record is sufficiently conservative and that he would be a credit to this country were he elected President. And no, I am not saying, or suggesting, that he would be some sort of latter-day Reagan, far from it; a President Perry will stand or fall on his own merits, exactly as Reagan stood on his own merits.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I smell a rat, a big fat media rat trying to pimp Santorum at the last minute to divide the conservative vote just enough to let Romney slip in for the win with his meager 25% that he has had all year.

BIG! FAT! RAT!