Show of hands: Who remembers the “Earthquake in Vanuatu” on Dec. 1? Who remembers “Santorum Express Sunday” on Dec. 4? Who remembers when I had to scrape around to find articles from Iowa newspapers to put together Santorum campaign updates, back when a CNN/Time poll showed Santorum in sixth place in Iowa, at 5%?
OK, so having endured those lean, lonely and seemingly hopeless weeks of early December, I am not even slightly daunted now, and am in fact greatly encouraged to see that more and more conservatives are climbing aboard the Santorum Express. The latest is Ed Morrissey of Hot Air:
Why Santorum? In my estimation, Santorum is the last consistent conservative standing, and the only one both promoting the conservative agenda and campaigning as a conservative in the race. . . .
Santorum has demonstrated a level of personal integrity in this race that outshines the rest of the field. Santorum has campaigned with blue-collar Reagan Democrats in mind, pushing for an economic plan that would revitalize manufacturing and small business. He could easily have tipped over into class-warfare populism while Gingrich and Romney bashed each other over their work at Bain and Freddie Mac in order to ingratiate himself with that sector by playing on latent envy. Instead, he defended capitalism and both of his competitors on the campaign trail more effectively than either could defend themselves. In contrast, Romney keeps demonstrating a lack of fluency in conservative politics and philosophy, while Gingrich has conducted a personal, angry campaign that threatens to reinforce every negative stereotype about conservatives, both at times putting themselves and their ambitions above the party they seek to lead.
Every time a blogger endorses Rick Santorum, an angel gets his wings, and Ed has now added his name to a growing list of worthies in support of the Consistent Conservative. While I was in Florida last week, I missed David Limbaugh’s endorsement:
I don’t believe that the science of electability is as certain as those promoting it would have us believe. . . .
I reject the conventional wisdom that Rick Santorum could not win the general election, because I believe he represents the best contrast to Obama and is the least vulnerable to attack, among other reasons.
I will support whoever emerges as the Republican nominee, but I do not apologize for supporting Rick Santorum.
Michelle Malkin endorsed Santorum a week ago, Phyllis Schlafly says she’ll vote for Santorum in Tuesday’s Missouri primary, and Santorum also got the endorsement of former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo. During his years in Congress, Tancredo was the “gold standard” for immigration enforcement, and his endorsement of Santorum makes perfect sense when you look at the Numbers USA immigration report card on current presidential hopefuls. (Newt Gingrich? D.)
On “Fox News Sunday,” Santorum said: “I think we’re going to do very well here in Minnesota. I think we’re going to do very well in Colorado, and we’ve got a one-on-one match up against Mitt Romney in Missouri, while there’s no delegates, it is a key state, it is a primary. And we think we can do exceptionally well in the state of Missouri.”
Despite placing third in Florida and fourth in Nevada, Santorum actually had a very good week and his campaign is now more hopeful than ever. In a press release summarizing the week’s developments, Santorum campaign communications director Hogan Gidley said, “Time brings clarity, and this week proved that former speaker Gingrich was simply not up to the task of being the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. Rick Santorum has a long, tried-and-true track record of unapologetically standing up for the conservative principles that make America great. He’s the full spectrum conservative who’s never wavered on our core principles. It is Rick Santorum who conservatives can rally around as their standard bearer, and poll-after-poll is now showing that the two-man race is now between Santorum and Romney.”
Gidley cited polls showing Santorum leading in Minnesota and ahead of Gingrich in Colorado:
Minnesota:
Santorum: 29%
Romney: 27%
Gingrich: 22%
Colorado:
Romney: 40%
Santorum: 26%
Gingrich: 18%
Meanwhile, a national poll by Rasmussen Reports showed Santorum the only GOP contender leading Barack Obama.
Santorum will speak Friday morning at CPAC, and his supporters are hoping to get a big boost as the campaign moves forward, with the next debate (Feb. 22 in Arizona) still two weeks away. Finally, while this isn’t quite an angel-wings endorsement, Dan Blatt of Gay Patriot offers some words of respect for Santorum:
Maybe Santorum is doing well because he comes across as a nice guy. He enjoyed that reputation when he served on Capitol Hill. Although, to be sure, the Senator has said some strange things about gays, he has treated the one member of his staff who has been publicly “outed” as gay with dignity. Indeed, his one-time spokesman Robert Traynham said “was open with Santorum about his sexual orientation” and that he had “never heard Santorum voice an anti-gay or bigoted comment” in the ten years he had worked for him.
Many people disagree with Santorum on issues, but still respect his sincerity and consistency and, like a lot of other Republicans, Dan was disgusted by Newt’s Nevada meltdown.
So we await further developments and who knows? By this time next week, the headlines may be all about the latest Santorum Surge. There was another earthquake in Vanuatu last week. I’m just sayin’ . . .
PREVIOUSLY:
- Feb. 3: Gingrich, Romney, Trump Monopolize Media; Santorum Keeps Campaigning
- Jan. 30: Like an Earthquake in Vanuatu: Michelle Malkin Endorses Rick Santorum!
- Jan. 29: Steak & Eggs Morning News Round-Up: Florida GOP Voter ‘Horrified’ by Newt; Romney Opens Double-Digit Poll Lead
- Jan. 28: Santorum Daughter Hospitalized
- Jan. 27: Santorum Praised by Rush Limbaugh, Endorsed by Florida State Sen. Plakon
- Jan. 21: Iowa Republican Party Finally Admits That Rick Santorum Won Jan. 3 Caucuses
- Jan. 21: Rick Santorum Crashes Blog Bash, Impresses Conservative New Media
