Santorum has distinguished himself from the other candidates as the social conservative of the race, focusing some, but less, on the economy.  That doesn’t play as well in New Hampshire as it does in Iowa.  It didn’t even play too well in Santorum’s home state of Pennsylvania in his last race, and PA is supposed to be Alabama outside of Philadelphia & Pittsburgh.

Let me inform my friends at the Pagan Temple that if Romney doesn’t win NH by at least 20 then he is looking pretty bad.

Additionally if Romney can’t do better than 2nd in Iowa with all the financial and organizational advantages he has PLUS 4 years of campaigning then may I suggest he might not be the strongest candidate in the general

The good: Santorum’s voting record in the senate was decent, and he has not neglected New Hampshire, even while appearing to be all over Iowa every day. If he does well in Iowa, he could easily earn a strong pace in NH.
The risky factor? Santorum manages to create the impression that he would use the power of government to impose morality, which crosses the line for some folks. Moral leadership, good; imposition of morals by the Feds, not so much.

” Santorum manages to create the impression that he would use the power
of government to impose morality, which crosses the line for some folks.”

It “crosses the line” only for the mentally retarded.

Only the mentally retarded need the federal government to impose a particular brand of morality on the states. Well, the mentally retarded or the criminally sociopathic.

In fairness to Santorum, he implied strongly in the debates that he had no interest in imposing morality on the states at the federal level, but would instead be a “leader” on social and moral issues in encouraging states to adopt moral laws. At least, that’s what I got out of it. That and he wants a constitutional amendment to ban abortions. Not the best use of a Presidents time in my opinion, but my candidate Bachmann wants the same thing. Right now all I want is a soda pop.

Carbon emissions.

That’s what I heard out of Sen. Santorum as well, and it impressed me greatly. I’m a libertarian voter, socially pretty liberal (at least insofar as I want people left alone, even if it means homos, drugs and sex). Santorum is socially much more conservative than me.

But Santorum seems to really understand that the President is not a King. The President does not get to rule by edict, and his every preference (and especially those of his wife!) need not be enshrined in law or public policy.

The proper role of the President is to attempt to persuade Congress and the American people that the President’s perspective is the correct one, so that Congress might enact laws he likes.

Santorum gets this. It makes me much more comfortable with his social conservatism.

The south is most of what matters… and they don’t dig Romney much: SC comes up first, where the Georgia doughboy is up solid double-digits. 

In Florida Newt’s polling at almost 40%, while Romney’s been stuck at a hard 30% ceiling for what seems like forever. After that delegate jackpot puts him instantly out-front, Newt polls over 50% pretty much everywhere throughout the region…

But you know that, right?

Right statists are worse than left statists as far as I’m concerned, because given their way they would destroy the federalist principles the constitution was based on, and they would do so gladly any time it suited them. They are supposed to oppose the left when it comes to protecting and defending federalist principles, not provide them inspiration and guidance the way some of these assholes insist on doing.

As a registered Republican in the state of Georgia I’ve followed the campaigns of the Republican candidates since that race began.  For me politics is not about religion, but about the needs of the country and it’s people, but values play a part in my decision. 

A short while ago, I took a survey online to see which Republican candidate I most closely associated with based on their previous statements.  I was shocked at the results, (In order of precidence) Michelle Bachman, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum. I had not followed Mrs. Bachman that closely and based on that survey I now regret that ommision.

As a registered Republican with Libertarian leanings I favorably followed a good bit of Ron Paul’s campaign promises, ideas and suggestions.  As a retired military man, I am not in favor of a blanket reduction of all things military just because.  Yes, a lot of waste can be and should be, redacted from our defense budget.  I also agree, in part, with Senator Paul on taking the sharp knife of ethics and common sense to foreigh aid.  But for some reason, possibly those of his supporters who seem to be driven by blind faith and conspiracy theories, something about a Ron Paul presidency scares me.

As a Georgian, I’ve listened to Herman Cain and his radio show for some time and have always been impressed with his stand on issues and his value based common sense commentary.  People in this country are innocent until proven guilty in spite of the old addage “where there’s smoke there’s fire,” except. apparently, when it comes to politics in relation to the media and public oppinion.  I was disappointed in the media’s putting him in the ‘unelectable’ category.

As a Georgian, I have also watched Gingrich in action.  Bold? Yes.  When it suited him.  Compromizing?  Occasionally, if it appeared he’d not succeed by other means.  Of course these are my opinions.  I’m not sure why exactly, except for issues like corn based ethanol in our gasoline when that is supposed to cause food price and other corn based prices to increase in a time when many people aready have finantial problems.  An issue, I might add, that he was joined in by Nancy Pelosi.

As a Mormon, I am aware of what Romney’s values should be and probably are, and have been impressed with his steadfast position in the polls, his business experience, his determination to oust Obama, and his apparent electibility.

That all said, last night I listened to Rick Santorum’s speach at the tail end of the Iowa Caucuses coverage.  His words hit me right where I live.  Like many, I’ve been searching for a Conservative with common sense, who could defeat the Democrat with a progressive agenda. 

I am almost 65, already drawing social security.  I am also a disabled veteran drawing VA disability and a military pension.  As a former school teacher I have worked on a daily basis with people and administrators with a wide variety of political viewpoints, most notably progressive,  I am aware that politics breeds selective positioning, ethical compromizes, and rationalizatons of ‘truth.’

For my own peace of mind, between now and the Georgia Republican primary, I will be watching Rick Santorum’s campaign a lot more closely.  He got my attention last night.  I hope he got the positive attention of others, and time will tell if he can withstand the media firestorm that is about to engulf him.  If he survives the tempering fire and maintains the values and positions he displayed last night, he’ll have my vote in that primary, and I hope, go on to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States.

In any case, though I usually vote for the candidate based on the issues, I don’t believe this country can survive the serious consequences of another term with a Democrat and Progress as President and I intend to vote for the Republican nominee regardless of the outcome of the nomination process.