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Setting aside his petulant demeanor, Santorum has a plethora of negatives that are still bubbling under.

Is he electable? Even in 2000, where is easily won reelection to the Senate, he only tied his Dem opponent among women. However, in 2006's epic defeat he lost 61% of women voters. Dems know how to defeat him.

He helped give us Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, Sotomayor, by voting to confirm her Circuit Court appointment by Bill Clinton. That's the kind of judge Senator Rick Santorum truly believed was suited for our high courts! To compare, "rock-ribbed" RINO John McCain voted against her for the 2nd Circuit.

Rick Santorum added $550 million more in Amtrack funding to the $900 million in the budget. (Reference: Santorum amendment to Transportation funding bill; Bill S.Amdt.3015 to S.Con.Res.83 ; vote number 2006-052 on Mar 15, 2006) It that fiscal conservatism?

Based on his voting record, until just recently Santorum rated an F from Numbers USA on immigration. Suddenly, late in this campaign, he's now an A-, the only candidate to flip-flop positions and raise his grade substantially except the king flip-flopper himself Mitt Romney. Even Mitt moved just one letter grade! Which is the more believable Rick, the cold hard voting record or the sudden rhetorical shift?

Obama and the press don't need a "smear machine" they simply need to pull back the curtain on Santorum and let his record do the talking.

The PA press have started gathering things from their years of reporting.

Here are just a few highlights culled from the above piece:

1. His charity Operation Good Neighbor (2001-07), illegally never registered with PA, doled out just 36% of income as grants, far less than the 75% of responsible causes. I'm sure it's coincidence the charity which spent most of its money on lobbyists, aides and fundraisers closed after he was defeated for reelection.

2. His "leadership PAC," "American's Foundation," was worse--just 18% went to candidates, well below similar PACs.

3. The $500,000 mortgage for his Leesburg mansion came from a private bank run by a big campaign donor. By all appearances, Santorum was not eligible for the closed program.

4. Santorum bilked a Pennsylvania school district out of $72,000 to pay for home "cyberschooling" of five of his kids ... in Virginia.

5. As the third-ranking Republican, he worked closely with House majority leader Tom DeLay, now felon, on the "K-Street Project" to grow ties between the GOP and major lobbyists. Twenty-three of his own staffers landed well-paying jobs at lobbying firms. When he was fired by the PA voters? Santorum turned to lobbyists to make nearly $1m per year while unemployed. How can he credibly help drain a swamp he diligently helped craft as the senate GOP point man?

6. This supporter of Medicare Part D was so important to the culture of crony capitalism, an internal memo at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said his loss "creates a big hole that we need to fill."

7. Before anyone heard of Solyndra, Santorum was securing $100 million federal loans for a coal-to-liquids plant that was never built. The project's lobbyist was PA's top GOP power broker, Bob Ashner, and paid nearly $1 million.

That's seven places just to start off.

What has this lawyer and career politician really done over his career?

Is he really as neocon interventionist-minded as his debate performances suggest? He's suddenly trying to align himself with Tea Party after speaking against it. Is he really central gov't minded as his debate attacks on 10th amendment supporting candidates warn?

What specific reforms does he propose on taxes, regulation, tort reform, ethics and crony capitalism? What are his "bold solutions" to fixing the mess we're in? Looking beyond his defense of Life & Marriage, where he is not alone, is he credible on the issues?

Isn't this former establishment figure another big spending "compassionate conservative" yet lacking the personal appeal or executive experience of G.W.?

A close look warns me Rick Santorum would be a disaster if elected.