Santorum was repeatedly elected in a left-leaning industrial state until running into the "pro-life" scion and namesake of the sainted Gov. Casey in a Democrat landslide year. He has proven he can appeal to the white working class swing voters that turn Ohio-Wisconsin-Michigan-Pennsylvania.
Newt is an electoral disaster. He was one of the most unpopular figures in America when conservatives forced him out of the Speakership, and it won't take much to remind people why. He has never been elected to statewide office and has never demonstrated electoral appeal outside his district. Polling at 15% in Iowa and trailing Obama head-to-head is evidence of his potential, and not in a positive sense.
Which "conservatives" were those? The ones who failed to balance fourteen consecutive budgets or do anything about Social Security?