Santorum Delivers a GOP Stunner [Shoe-String Budget: Clean Sweep: Hat-Trick: Wins MN; MO, and CO!]

Wall St. J ^ | February 07, 2012 | NEIL KING JR. And DANNY YADRON

[Steelfish]

Santorum Delivers a GOP Stunner Former Senator Wins in Minnesota, Missouri; Romney Campaign Plays Down Nonbinding Contests

By NEIL KING JR. And DANNY YADRON

DENVER—Rick Santorum jolted the Republican presidential race Tuesday by winning nominating contests in Missouri and Minnesota, puncturing Mitt Romney's claim to be the unstoppable front-runner.

Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, was running neck and neck with Mr. Romney in preliminary returns from Colorado, a state Mr. Romney won by a wide margin in 2008.

With about 70% of the Colorado vote counted, Mr. Santorum had 38%, to 36% for Mr. Romney. Four years ago, Mr. Romney carried Colorado with 60% of the vote.

Mr. Santorum's twin victories in the Midwest will give his campaign a much-needed burst of momentum and may stir doubt about Mr. Romney's abilities to woo conservatives to his side in important electoral states such as Missouri. So far, Mr. Romney has won in states where he has devoted significant campaign time and advertising dollars.

Mr. Santorum won 55% of the Missouri vote, while Mr. Romney followed with 25%. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was trailing with 12%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wasn't on the Missouri ballot.

Mr. Santorum's Missouri victory margin of almost 75,000 votes over Mr. Romney was nearly 29,000 more than Mr. Romney's combined Iowa and Nevada total.

While the Tuesday results didn't directly award any of the delegates needed to claim the GOP nomination, they showed voters rejecting Mr. Romney even in states where he had performed well four years ago.

Mr. Romney had carried Minnesota in 2008 but placed third there on Tuesday. With 85% of precincts in, Mr. Santorum had 45% of the vote, while Mr. Paul had 27%. Mr. Romney had 17% of the vote and Mr. Gingrich claimed 11%.

[Kaslin]

You are ignoring the fact that the reason Santorum supported Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey was, that Specter was the chairman for the judicial and the nominations of Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr., Associate Justice, and John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, who were both nominated by President Bush was at stake. With out Arlen Specter, they would have never made it.

[1010RD]

That’s what attracted me to him in the first place.

[RasterMaster]

Unlike what Newt got for his Dede Scuzzyflava support...ZIP, ZERO, NADA!

[Kaslin]

Welcome to Freerepublic and thanks for the link

GO RICK GO

[KTM rider]

"Santorum is not a great choice against 0.

Are you sure you aint a liberal Yankee ?

Santorum is the ONLY conservative anti-establishment choice ! Everyone is so beat down by the media that they digest all that "cant win against Obama so you better pick a republican liberal" bullcrap,,,,,,,

NEWS FLASH ! even the blacks hate obama, they are just stuck with him like we get stuck with our Republican turds

[KTM rider]

"Santorum is not a great choice against 0.

Are you sure you aint a liberal Yankee ?

Santorum is the ONLY conservative anti-establishment choice ! Everyone is so beat down by the media that they digest all that "cant win against Obama so you better pick a republican liberal" bullcrap,,,,,,,

NEWS FLASH ! even the blacks hate obama, they are just stuck with him like we get stuck with our Republican turds

[nurse-rn]

And Callista doesn’t help matters much- what is that supposed to mean?

[Steelfish]

Gingrich needs to honorably drop out. He is trailing women voters by 20-points or more in poll after poll. He has sky-high unfavorability ratings, he gets trounced by Obama in the recent USA-Gallup by over 12-points, and carries the $1.6m Freddie Mae albatross around his neck. If nothing else, he will sooner or later self-implode like the proposal to colonize the moon. With Santorum’s clean sweep especially in bellweather MO where he carried every county, it is now abundantly clear that Santorum is the only realistic alternative to Romney. Time to get on to this bandwagon.

[Steelfish]

Gingrich needs to honorably drop out. He is trailing women voters by 20-points or more in poll after poll. He has sky-high unfavorability ratings, he gets trounced by Obama in the recent USA-Gallup by over 12-points, and carries the $1.6m Freddie Mae albatross around his neck. If nothing else, he will sooner or later self-implode like the proposal to colonize the moon. With Santorum’s clean sweep especially in bellweather MO where he carried every county, it is now abundantly clear that Santorum is the only realistic alternative to Romney. Time to get on to this bandwagon.

[Marguerite]

I will just quietly say that Rick did a stupid thing once, when he endorsed Arlen Specter.

Santorum did a much more stupid, damned thing in 2008, when he endorsed Mitt Romney.

What he said then: "I think Romney, when he decided to run, he’s a smart business guy, and he sort of got his team together and said, ‘What do I need to do to be the conservative candidate?’ and give me the checklist and see if I can check them off. And I think over the course of this campaign, you know, I saw the migration from the checklist to his head and from his head into his heart and I really believe that’s where he is today.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/223582/romney-santorum-2008/mark-hemingway

This will play against him in the conservative electorate, I am sure.

Why did he prefer Romney? This is the question.

Santorum is rightly attacking Romneycare in 2012, BUT supported Romney in 2008, when Mitt signed Romneycare in ... 2006! It is that more damning in 2012 than it was in 2008?

It makes no sense, for a genuine conservative candidate to have endorsed Romney. He could very well keep his mouth shut and not endorse anyone.

[Revel]

I think we should refer to Romney as Robama.

[Kaslin]

The poster is just an ignoramus what a RINO really is, and I don’t mean the Republican In Name Only thing

[altura]

I’m not scoffing at his power. I understand it is vast and he has the media.

I just meant thinking of the man personally as a pit bull is a silly image as he doen’t look as though he could fight his way out of a paper bag.

[ExSoldier]

I like Newt, but I'd support Rick with as much or more enthusiasm. At least he's not CFR. Rick has a "clean" message and there will be lots less to riddle him with holes than with Newt. True, it's unlikely there will be any October surprises with Newt because his feet of clay are already well known. He's human, so what? But Rick is a refreshing breath of fresh spring air. The best part is that Rick totally crushed the "inevitability factor" of Mittens.

[RasterMaster]

[KTM rider]

I agree Santorum would be dead meat against O, so I’d love a brokered convention.

if Santorum drops out , Romney will win by a squeaker.

If Newt drops out Santorum will win by an overwaelming landslide

statements like this are just plain STUPID

Santorum would win by a landslide against Obama

[altura]

You may be ‘old and tired’ (although I’m older and currently tireder because of a recent attempt to get fit) but at least you’re making sense.

I don’t see why Newt supporters (and I’m one) don’t take their arguments elsewhere for 5 minutes and let us enjoy a conservative victory over Romney.

[GeronL]

Looking at turnout... the GOP is about as enthusiasitc as a bale of hay

[Steelfish]

Rush comes close to a Santorum endorsement.

He said this today according to Politico:

“And they’re doing it because in Santorum’s case, as I’ve been saying the past couple of weeks, if you’re looking for a conservative who is the least corrupted, who has the least number of periods of wandering off the reservation, if you’re looking for a conservative who’s never sat down with Nancy Pelosi on the couch for any reason, you get Rick Santorum,” he said. “And people know this.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72622.html

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

If Newt drops out Santorum will win by an overwaelming landslide statements like this are just plain STUPID. Santorum would win by a landslide against Obama.

Capitalizing all the letters in a word does not make it any more true. Particularly when you offer no analysis or facts to support your position.

I've got a couple of problems with Santorum's electability. Part of it is simply his look/demeanor. To me, he comes across as pained/grumpy/angry/whiny much of the time. I don't think that sells well. People tend to prefer some level of optimism, and Santorum is pretty poor at projecting that.

I've also met the guy personally a couple of years ago, at a lunch where there were just a few of us at the table. Decent guy, but to me, he comes across as rigid and humorless. Never been as underwhelmed by the personality of a supposedly major politician as I was by his.

I also think that his hardline stance on social issues, and his inability (at least to me) to articulate them persuasively, will really hurt him among some swing voters. Some people are good at taking moral positions and making them sound reasonable to third parties. Others just sound like they're repeating dogman. Saying "that's just what is right and that's what I believe" is fine for the head of a family, but if you want to win votes, you've got to be able to do more than that.

In case you think I'm a "Romneybot" or "Newtbot", I think they're both set to lose as well.