Rick Santorum has a secret weapon. He’s such an appalling person with so little to offer humanity that Republican voters picked him last as their anti-Romney candidate. They flirted with Donald Trump. They picked Michele Bachmann at the Ames Straw Poll. They thought they would love Rick Perry. Herman Cain titillated them with the simplicity of his 9-9-9 tax plan. They turned to Newt Gingrich in abject desperation.
And then the clock ran out. Tomorrow, Iowa voters will caucus. And Santorum has timed it just right. The trick was to be the least appealing candidate in the field. By being the dead-last option of the GOP base, he wound up avoiding negative publicity until it was too late to stop his frothy rise in the polls. This is not a case of the porridge being “just right.” This is simply a result of the fact that Rick Santorum was the least appetizing candidate and the last to be tasted.
He looks almost certain to finish in the top three, and an outright win is not out of the question. The polls are tight, but they should be more accurate than what we get from polls of the Democratic caucuses because there is no threshold for viability in the Republican caucuses. You don’t get to vote for your second choice if your first choice lacks sufficient support.
There is only one other candidate left to sample, and he’s too busy insulting Iowans to be a factor tomorrow. Jon Huntsman may look like a plate of liver and onions, but once people get a good look at Santorum and send the dish back, liver and onions will be the only thing left on the menu. I expect New Hampshire to grab a fork and napkin, and to have a taste.
Who really wins in Iowa? “Uncommitted”. In spite of the Iowa Republican Party Chair’s statement last week, all Iowa delegates go to the convention uncommitted.
Iowa Straw Poll 2: The Caucus is just a second shot at getting Republicans (and Democrats) to spend money in the state. Lord knows they won’t help Iowa once they’re in Congress.
So Citizens United might turn out to cause a scramble among states to get in on all that campaign cash and not let the the consultant and media centers — DC area, New York, and Southern California — make away with it all.
Republican jobs plan? I see from Boo’s link that Huntsman has also become a job-creator using his personal wealth to match campaign contributions. Though the Republican clown car is full of the wealthy, I think, only Huntsman and Romney qualify as true .1%ers, Krugman’s actual category, the others are wannabes.
Countdown til someone complains that “you didn’t mention Ron Paul!!!”
4…3…2…
Consider Ron Paul to be implied in all posts, even ones unrelated to politics.
Speaking of Ron Paul, my dream is that the Santorum ‘surge’ ends up knocking Romney out of second place and we have a Paul-Santy-Mitt lineup.
Then NH is up for grabs. I’m praying for that because I’m a Ron Paul supporter. But Dems should hope for it too, because that will REALLY F$%K up the GOP race.
Huntsman won’t go anywhere in NH. He’s basically been camping out there and hasn’t placed any better than 4th. He’ll be out of the race afterwards – his campaign doesn’t have the money, and his daddy won’t fund anymore super PAC ads.
He won’t do better than third, or probably fourth. But I predict he will do better than Little Rickey in NH.
Also, too, “I’m going to be the nominee. It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I’m going to be the nominee.” -Newt 12/1/11
Remember that quote for tomorrow night.
This is the trouble with the being the party of Anti. As long as the Rep party itself is a flip flopper; whether it be individual mandates (in opposition of HillaryCare) Cap and Trade, Dream Act, etc etc you will have not only a B list of candidates turning themselves inside out to flip fast enough but a confused base.
Iowa has managed to ignore Santorum long enough to allow him to learn his stumpisms better and his message is now reflective of the most current flip flops. Maybe Mitt has more practice as a chameleon but Santorum has learned the art of emotional distraction.
Funny.
Santorum’s actual brilliant plan was to run an Iowa-focused, retail-politics campaign instead of a national, media-centric campaign
Santorum went “bird” hunting the day after Christmas and did not bag the Steve King endorsement. In one of the most uncomfortable photo ops I have ever seen he looked like a childlike stupid idiot who had been stood up for a costume party.
He however was the only candidate campaigning that day. Looking like a loser worked in a big way. The Iowa far right now sees him as their Rick Perry but with a very small semi-functional brain. Its a match made in heaven…yuk, yuk. Having any brain is normally a major negative in the Repug primaries but he can talk all the Koch Bros. super wealthy bullshit plus crazy religious zealot bullshit AND remember all the lines.
It was only a matter of time before the Repugs turned to their little, not a Mormon, church guy. Unfortunately for him the soulless, well heeled Romney will chew him up. Well lets let god sort em out. This is going to be super fun.
We can only hope that the Iowa caucus results promote disarray among both Rethug elites and base voters.
Tho, with ample popcorn stored away, one can also relish the possible Wednesday morning headlines:
“Santorum Tops Xxxx” is a sure-fire winner.
But if recent polls are correct in predicting a close finish, we may be treated to “Santorum in Three-Way at Top”.
What this will do to Google search results is beyond my agenda… eh, I mean, my imagination. More butter, please, and hold the salt.