Posted on 01/25/2012 1:30:33 PM PST by TBBT
From NBC News:
Failing to show early signs of momentum in the Sunshine State, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Wednesday signaled he may be cutting out of Florida before the state’s Jan. 31 primary.
Speaking to reporters here, the former Pennsylvania senator said was unsure if he would be in Florida the night of the primary, committing only to campaigning in the state over the next two days. On Saturday, he’ll head home to Virginia for fundraisers and to prepare his tax records which he plans to soon make public.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
BTW did you notice how nice Newt and Paul were to one another in the last debate? Complimenting each others position? lol, both are smart operators. Newt does not need a fight with Paul and Paul certainly does not want to see Mitt win Fla. It was fun to watch. Paul was happy to just stand there and be ignored for most of the debate. Newt did not look well or sound well he definitely needs a good nights sleep tonight. I am expecting both Paul and Santorum to lay low tomorrow night. Paul is hoping Newt wins to keep the process going, Santorum is hoping Mitt wins so he can be the not Romney. Should be interesting.
100% agree, well said.
No, I missed the visuals of the last debate. I followed along with the live audio feed, and the thread on FR.
I guess it's to be expected that Gingrich and Paul would find some common ground, with both of their political careers being rooted in the House of Representatives. There's no doubt, they go way back, and have probably been shoulder to shoulder in a whole lot of battles.
Seems that Santo doesn't know who to befriend. I think Paul is the only one he hasn't expended any ammo on, but I don't know that he's got much in common with him. At least Newt and Ron are both very keen on the Constitution, and both have made reverence of that document central to their appeals to the voting public.
I said “implode,” not “explode.” Learn to read.
I can read - but I didn’t read anything in your post about Mitt, Santorum or Paul IMPLODING - Just Newt.
Why would that be?
Pretty much for the Newt supporters.
I hope Santorum stays in the race, and is just conserving cash, but this could be the beginning of the end. If he stays in, he should do well in the midwest and more socially conservative states.
Florida is a lost cause for him at this point.
“If he stays in, he should do well in the midwest and more socially conservative states.”
He will not do well in the South. Cold and aloof does not play well down here.
Let's not forget Ron Paul is also largely ignoring Florida.
The reason why is Florida is a winner-take-all state, and it is an extremely expensive media market. Once it became clear the race in Florida was basically a two-person race for the votes of two constituencies, one which generally has been voting for Romney and one which generally has been voting for more aggressively conservative candidates, it made sense for Santorum to largely bow out of Florida and let Gingrich try to rally stricter conservatives to defeat Romney.
That's not admitting defeat; if anything, it's trying to avoid splintering the conservative anti-Romney vote. I would think Freepers would appreciate him for doing that.
Santorum’s core supporters are social conservatives. He has a considerably better chance in the next set of races than he does in Florida under current conditions. Under different circumstances with a win or a better showing in South Carolina, Santorum might have been able to make an aggressive campaign for conservative Cuban votes based on his Roman Catholicism, but I think he sees that he can play no useful role in Florida except splitting votes and making a Romney win more likely.
Obviously Santorum knows that if Gingrich's campaign collapses, he'll be the beneficiary. Even Gingrich's strongest supporters have to acknowledge that given the see-saw way the race has gone so far, Santorum has good reason to wonder if that may happen.
I'd be surprised to see Santorum drop out before Super Tuesday unless he gets offered something by Gingrich.
But then again, everything about this race has been a surprise the whole campaign season.
You only have a problem with Catholics that actually adhere to the doctrine. Got it.
Okay, I’ll bite: who do YOU think should be VP?
He never had a chance, and with Gingrich garnering momentum he can’t even play spoiler and try to leverage that into a VP nod from Romney.
He needs to exit, he has no chance of being above single digits from this point forward.
Only other calculus is Gingrich falters badly, and the non romney folks move over to Santorum.. but I don’t see that happening. Gingrich is capitalizing on the grss root anger about the systematic destruction of our nation by the political class that refuses to respect the founding pricniples of this nation... Santorum is just a milk toast, who finds a backbone on some social conservative issues occassionally.
The same reason he got crushed in his last election.
Santorum is not a great politician or a particularly amiacable fellow. He’s a conservative milk toast, he says things that are good, but his record doesn’t match his rhetoric far more often than most realize. He’s got a backbone on social conservative issues, but honestly lacks the intellect to articulate them effectively, and has ZERO backbone or ability to articulate the simple fundamental conservative philosophy, that being one of the government should for the most part “STAY OUT OF PEOPLE’S WALLETS AND OFF THEIR BACKS”.. because honestly, he DOESN’T BELIEVE THAT.
Santorum is an average to below average politician at best, and on his greatest day, he’s at best VP material, no way is he capable of running the show.. he just doesn’t have it.
Couldn’t say it any better, It is like a festering sore, it takes a while for it to come to a head. The problem happened when the infection started at the first moment.
But Santorum adds nothing to the ticket.
Santorum will deliver Pennsylvania, supposedly. We’re obviously not going to have Gingrich/Romney, or Gingrich/Paul, but Newt and Rick are pretty close, ideologically. Gingrich/West looks like tokenism, and Gingrich/Palin is like a giant ‘kick me’ sign.
Maybe there is some rising GOP star in CA, FL, or NY...
I was unaware that the doctrine of the Catholic church was a Santorum interpreted Theocracy. In that case, yep, sure do! Oh wait, you’re just trolling. I see. Got it.
This country was founded upon religious freedom. Not atheism, and certainly not Santorum’s wahabist false view of Catholicism. I’m seen over zealous blowhards in every church. Thankfully, none of them have ever won our presidency. I realize you turning this into a Catholic/Non-Catholic argument is the best you’ve got. I don’t care what religion a person is, as long as I’m free to not worship or live as they see fit, and they’re free to do the same. How and where, and as they please. It doesn’t matter, Santorum’s gone within maybe a week. He’s spoiling for Romney, so maybe a tad longer. But out all the same.
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