SANTORUM DROPS OUT

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UPDATE 6 p.m. ET: In a post at Rachel Maddow’s blog (!) lefty Steve Benen says, “Santorum has done something I honestly didn’t think was possible,” going on to list the miraculous successes of Santorum’s low-budget underdog operation. Beyond the credit due to the candidate and his family — his wife and kids were, at one point, nearly the only people working full-time for his campaign — much of the credit goes to the scores and hundreds of dedicated volunteers whom I mention below.

Also: Because he went so long without any significant media recognition, Santorum was always the most accessible of the candidates and was willing to answer almost any questions. That got him in trouble a few times, and drove his staff and consultants nuts, but the folks in the press corps — including liberals who totally disagreed with Santorum on the issues — appreciated the honesty and openness of his campaign.

UPDATE 4:50 p.m. ET: Video of Santorum’s speech today:

UPDATE 4:40 p.m. ET: A volunteer just started the “Rick 2016” Facebook page.

UPDATE 4:20 p.m. ET: In a message on the Team Santorum Facebook page, the campaign’s grassroots coordinator Shelley Ahlersmeyer links Rick and Karen Santorum’s note of thanks to their supporters.

The story of Santorum’s grassroots army has been seldom mentioned in the media, even in my own coverage of the campaign. Some people were mystified by how Santorum kept winning — from Colorado to Louisiana — and so often out-performing the polls.

Shelley Ahlersmeyer had run grassroots outreach for Mike Huckabee’s 2008 campaign, and when she joined Team Santorum, it was a big gain for his campaign that didn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserved at the time. Ahlersmeyer brought with her not only her experience, skill and energy, but also extensive connections with Huckabee’s volunteers from four years ago.

So: How did Santorum win, for example, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, states that had seemed likely to go for Newt Gingrich? How did Santorum stay competitive in Michigan and Ohio, despite being massively outspent by Romney?

Three words: “Phone from home.”

A comparative handful of fired-up, dedicated volunteers — mostly moms and grandmothers — each made many thousands of phone calls to Republican primary voters in those states. Exactly how many people participated in Santorum’s phone-from-home program, I don’t yet know, but there were a hard-core handful who have spent practically every day for the past four months calling up total strangers and asking them to vote for Rick Santorum.

God bless ’em, they pulled off a miracle or two — Rick’s campaign manager, Mike Biundo, told me that the top campaign staff didn’t think they could win Mississippi until they saw the votes come in — and those volunteers deserve far more credit than they got.

Linked by The Lonely Conservative, Republican Redefined and Bob Belvedere at the Camp of the Saints — thanks!

UPDATE 3:50 p.m. ET: Michelle Malkin came through with a crucial endorsement of Rick Santorum on Jan. 31 — the day of the Florida primary — and says of his scrappy underdog campaign:

Rick Santorum fought hard, he fought well, and he gave voice to a large contingent of grass-roots conservative activists across the country who wanted a candidate who lived the values he preached. He held Mitt Romney’s feet to the fire on health care, challenged Newt Gingrich’s green flirtations and past support for the individual mandate, and took on Ron Paul’s foreign policy extremism. His presence improved everyone else’s game — and that will serve the GOP ticket well this fall, whoever ends up on it.

Let’s not talk about that yet, huh? By the way, Michelle Malkin is hereby formally invited to “DoomCon 2012,” which I hope to convene in Tampa the day before the RINO coronation Republican convention in August. The general theme will be, “How screwed are we?”

UPDATE 3:55 p.m. ET: I hope Jeff Goldstein can make it to Tampa, too.

UPDATE 3:40 p.m. ET: Chris Moody, my young friend who was covering his first presidential campaign this year, reminds us how it was:

In the final days before the first Republican caucuses in Iowa — a contest on which Santorum rested his entire strategy — it appeared that his campaign would be laid to rest in the state where it was born. Iowa Republicans did not turn their eyes to the man who had spent more time in their state than any other candidate until the very end, but they ultimately awarded him with a surprise, hair’s-breadth victory — not formally confirmed until weeks after the vote–that helped keep his fledgling campaign afloat into the spring.
The first public whispers of his impending rise came with a CNN poll released three days after Christmas that showed Santorum in third place among likely Iowa caucus-goers, higher than he had ever been before in a public opinion survey.

Oh, that wasn’t first whisper, Chris: Have you already forgottten the Dec. 1 earthquake in Vanuatu? And I was calling it the “Santorum Surge” for weeks before that CNN poll confirmed my insight. Just the other day, I recounted some of those headlines.

UPDATE 3:05 p.m. ET: Video report from Associated Press:

Donald Douglas at American Power:

Santorum’s campaign represented the great hope of “full-spectrum conservatives” in 2012, and his exit will leave a mark on the general election campaign, as social issues and working class concerns will continue to resonate with the electorate into the fall.

I’d been planning to travel tp Pennsylvania next week to cover the campaign leading up to the April 24 primary. Now? To look on the bright side, I can begin planning for “DoomCon 2012.”

*** PREVIOUSLY (2:36 p.m. ET) ***

The news broke online while I was sending an e-mail, and I just watched Santorum’s speech on TV.

UPDATE: You know what’s gonna hurt? Telling my son Jefferson.

UPDATE II: Lisa Graas must be heartbroken.

UPDATE III: Chris Stirewalt and his fellow Romneyites on Fox News are talking about how Mitt will win now. We won’t forget their glee.

UPDATE IV: More of the news I missed at The Hill. As one commenter said, “We’ll always have Iowa.” And New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Louisiana, to name some of the places I encountered Santorum on his long, wild campaign trail.

154 comments

  2. So now we get to see how thoroughly Governor Whitman McCain has poisoned the well.  It’s OK, though, the Georgetown cocktail party invites will continue and the RNC can go back to its real job of collecting donations to fight the Democratic Pary and socialism… somewhere… someday…

  4.  In related news, the northern end of the Vanuatu island chain is being overrun by invading secular Egyptians who had fled to the Marshall Islands to escape the Arab Spring…

  7. My little girl is as upset as I am, but I told her it’s OK because I am now going to climb in the tank for Newt until he drops out too and then we shall proclaim that the Romney is good even if he ain’t because no matter what, BARRY IS GOING DOWN, BITCHES! 

  9. He ran a good campaign, held in there when there was no money, and rehabilitated his image from his last Senate election.  It’s the right time, though:  a loss in PA would have undone much of that rebuilding.

    The good news is that apparently Bella has a good prognosis.

    Tell Jefferson politics is a tough business and like sports, there’s only going to be one winner.  There no shame in losing; the only shame is in not fighting hard with everything you’ve got to win if you believe in what you’re fighting for.  If you do that, you can hold your head high even in defeat.  Men will respect you, and women will throw themselves at your feet.

    Well, maybe the last part is slightly exaggerated.  But he’s 13:  let the lad dream.

  11. I am an anybody but Romney voter in that I wanted anyone else to get the nomination but Romney but I like and respect Santorum and I’m very sorry.

    I will crawl over glass to vote for anyone running against Obama, however. 

  12. Let’s be real about why he dropped out: he was afraid of the hit his image was going to take when he lost his home state.  Again. 

    This was ALL about him, not about doing the right thing.

    Santorum will never be a contender for anything, he was always just an anti-Romney vessel.  Had Bachmann or Pawlenty stuck around, they’d be exactly where where Santorum was.

    Good riddance.

  17. This is bad news for Rick 2012 but perhaps good news for Rick 2016.

    All bad news for the Republican Party, however, unless we see VP Santorum on the ticket. But would taking the VP spot help Rick? Not so sure in this particular case, because he doesn’t need the boost that such a nomination will bring, and would be accused of causing the loss if Romney goes down.

    I, therefore, counsel Santorum to NOT accept VP from Romney.

  18. For all of my discomfort with Santorum– his attacks on small-government conservatives, and most importantly, the mismatch between his record (as the #3 Senate Republican during the worst  years of Bush conservatism) and his rhetoric and framing as some sort of Tea Party savior, ultimately he did play a positive role in the overall campaign by forcing Romney to campaign harder, activating socially conservative Republican voters, and airing out Romney’s weaknesses earlier rather than having those come out first in the general, when they would have been even more damaging.

  19. As some guy named Bob Belvedere states http://thecampofthesaints.org/2012/04/10/breaking-rick-santorum-drops-out-we-now-have-an-echo-not-a-choice/ :

    Jeff’s commentary is a must-read.
    http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=39297

    Jeff’s Commentary:

    “2008 redux to begin again in earnest – with 2010 but a nightmare that “sane” Republicans have thankfully vanquished.

    And it’s for the best.  Because as far as ruling class pols are
    involved, the only thing better than offering the American people a
    choice between a candidate who supports socialized medicine, TARP,
    federal minimum wage increases tied to inflation, cap-and-trade, green
    energy boondoggles, bureaucratic precedence over religious conscience,
    federal government “stimulus” programs, rising gas prices as a matter of
    necessity, the wisdom of an individual mandate, and the anti-Reagan
    sentiment embodied by all big government types who consider a
    collaboration with Ted Kennedy a great social and political
    achievement,  and one who doesn’t, is offering them no choice at all
    while insisting that they actually have one.

    And that’s the kind of proper delineation between the political smart
    set and the flyover freaks he’s since been able to tame that makes Karl
    Rove jizz all over his white board.”

    And the great Republican fail of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory begins….

  23. Santorum was one Palin endorsement away from victory. Now we only have that loser Newt. Plus it is too late for Rick to run for Senate in a rematch. He was only 8% behind in a PPP poll two months ago. I was surprised that Rick always had higher favorability numbers than Willard.

    No VP for Rick. Willard needs a southeerner.  

  25. I guess losing Pennsylvania – again – was more than he could stand. 

    And he was going to loose PA, no doubt about it. 

    Voting Libertarian this year. 

  29.  Obama thanks you for your support.  He’s never had or needed a majority of True Believers when he can make up the difference in useful fools.

  30. Here’s the difference between us Zilla.  I have evidence on my side and you have unicorn farts on yours. Name the last time that a liberal GOP candidate won the White House.

    {edit: not that there’s anything wrong with unicorn farts.}

  31. Your opinion of course.  My opinion is and was that Mitt should have gotten out after losing 11 states to Santorum.

    Mitt will lose in November where Santorum would have won.

    If this was about Santorum as you say then its a magnitude more all about Romney.  He’s been running for President for the last decade or so and still hasn’t won.  The one good thing that will come out of Obama winning in November (and the ONLY thing) is that hopefully that will be the end of the Romney.

  32. Let’s not be defeatist, at this point staying in or not would not change the likely GOP nominee.  

    I thank Rick Santorum.  I wish him and his family the best.  My prayers and best wishes for Bella.  

  34. airing out Romney’s weaknesses

    Seriously?

    Rick didn’t go negative on Romney at all. Really no one has.  This is why the Obama campaign is popping victory corks right now in Chicago.

    Romney has hardly had to explain anything to anyone about his flip-flopping liberalism thus far.  I don’t think he’ll lose in November as badly as McCain did last time but the Pollyannaesque Romney fans who think that Obama is going to roll over just because Mitt has nice hair and a lot of money, are kidding themselves.  What Mitt did to Newt in Florida will be what Obama will do to Mitt in all 50 states.

    It’s going to be a bloodbath largely because Romney and his supporters are over-confident with the whole “electability” meme.  

    In neutral objective fact, history reminds us of four words: RINOs lose the White House (went all Biden on that one ;-). 

    Oh, I’ll vote for him in the general just like I voted for Newt here in the Georgia primary.  

  35.  Name the last time anyone ever won anything by giving up the fight? Romney isn’t the nominee yet. And even if he were, Obama sucks and there are SOME of us who will not hand him another 4 years so easily as you apparently intend to do.
    Defeatism is for losers.

  36. But it was “useful fools” who gave us Romney in the first place so complaining about people not supporting what these fools served up is not as disparaging as you think it to be. 

    Oh, and its not going to be people voting for the Libertarian who will swing the election to Obama. Rather, it will be the millions of people in the middle who see Romney as a weak, inarticulate, rich guy, with an arcane religious belief system who will hand Obama the keys to the WH once again.

  40. If you’re saying that Conan’s words are the lamentations of the women, and the hardcore Romneyites are enjoying it very much indeed….then yes, I rather suspect you’re right.

    Because the attack against the Right has never been about logic or electability.  Its been a desire to Keep the Benefices, and Kick That Sort of People in the teeth.

  41. You’d have a lot more fun if you went to Tampa a month early instead of a day early, because then you could go to FetishCon in Tampa in early August.  (-:

    And yes, even googling for FetishCon is NSFW.

  42. Its really a question.  Who would want to be Mitt’s VP?  The answer is ‘people like Bill Clinton’ who when he ran was running based on the idea that Bush Sr. was undefeatable, and the best in his party were sitting it out.  In other words, second and third raters, hear ye, hear ye, Mitt needs you.

  43.  Calm down Ford Fairlane you’re talking like a fool yourself. Bottom line, more people believed in Mitt (or at least in his chances of beating Obama) than believed in Rick. And there was a damn good chance that was going to turn out to be the case in Pennsylvania, which was trending against Santorum, and would have been utterly devastating to him had he lost it, as it looked more everyday that he would.

    It would be kind of hard to call those Pennsylvania voters fools, wouldn’t it? It would damn sure take a lot more gall at any rate.

    And “arcane religious belief system”? Are you kidding? How is believing you can become a god of your own planet any more arcane than believing that drinking a sip of wine and a wafer during a religious service will turn those items into the flesh and blood of the god you worship?

    To those who believe in them, they are not arcane. But to those who do not, they might well be. Thankfully most people frankly don’t care, to be blunt.

  44. I am sooooooo ready for this one.

    Bush Sr. was considered the third term of Reagan which is why he won the first time.  The second time, he ran as himself, and could not defeat Captain Love.

    So Finrod, its pretty solid.  RINOS are LUZERS.

    Vote Constitution Party.

  50. I’m kinda favoring Allen West.  He won’t be hurt when the ticket loses and no one will blame him for Mitt’s flame-out.  But it will give him some name recognition and there is always the outside chance that it will give Mitt a few votes that he would not have otherwise gotten.  So he’ll only lose by about 5 points instead of 7 or 8.

    Meanwhile, guys like Rubio and Ryan should hang garlic around their necks to keep Mitt from coming too close.

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