So what went wrong with Santorum?

[retromike22]

I have to say, it was when Santorum focused on contraception and started talking about social issues again, and it reminded everyone why they didn't like him the first place. It's not 2004 anymore.

In the 2012 GOP: Economic issues>Foreign issues>Social issues.

[ModerateCoward]

Romney's scorched earthy ad bombing of Michigan and Ohio.

[billbillerson]

He never had a shot. He is crazy. Crazy people rarely get nominated on major party tickets for President of the United States. This entire thing was for the ratings.

[A dog on every car, a car in every elevator]

Every post above me is correct.  Only reason he succeeded was his failure. Meaning... He attracted no interest and stayed under the radar as rivals surged one at a time and were either demolished by Romney or imploded without help.  He won Iowa after being the least attacked, mocked candidate.  Even then, he had to wait until Newt was destroyed one final time before being the only viable Non-Romney.  He then had a chance but blew it.  He could have pushed Florida's blowing off RNC rules an issue but he failed to.  Same with Romney's dodging debates and Newt's refusal to leave.  He wasted time in Puerto Rico and made repeated unforced errors like saying he didn't care what unemployment rate was and the economy wasn't the most important issue.

[Governor Scott]

I think the incident regarding his daughter was probably the last straw for him.

[Senator Snowstalker]

A lack of campaign finance regulations.

[Lief]

The Citizens United supreme court decision.

[Torie]

An interesting array of opinions all over the map are available here.  I found it kind of interesting reading, so I thought I would share.

My own opinion is that Rick had a headwind against him knocking out the establishment choice whose "turn" it was, but with a bit more "coolness" (Rick is just too "hot" for the cool medium of TV), the projecting of a bit more maturity and thoughtfulness, and less video tape out there revealing his deep passions on issues (contraception, and the "family values" stuff, and a militant stand on abortion) which make many uncomfortable, all of which he doubled down on, he had a real shot of accomplishing just that. One would have needed to be just about the perfect candidate to pull it off, starting from where Rick started, and he just wasn't.

[Lief]

If Rick Santorum had had the organization and money that Mitt Romney had, he would have easily won. He was running essentially a paper campaign against an actual one and lost as a result.

[retromike22]

One thing I find odd is why Santorum started out at the low digits and was there for most of the campaign. He was the only senator who was running and yet he was behind Bachmann and Cain.

I don't know why he didn't actually start out at around 10%, since he was more well known than some of the others.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

I have to say, it was when Santorum focused on contraception and started talking about social issues

I await O+15 vs Romney. 

The GOP always loses when they nominate a moderate. Always.

Congrats to four more years of Obama.

[GM Griffin]

I have to say, it was when Santorum focused on contraception and started talking about social issues

I await O+15 vs Romney. 

The GOP always loses when they nominate a moderate. Always.

Congrats to four more years of Obama.

Glad to see Texas is green now.

[President Marokai]

Santorum's biggest problem was Newt Gingrich.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

As I said - I'm I-TX.

Romney can go rot in hell.

[shua]

The media like to focus on "social issues" when it comes to conservatives, and Rick gave them the soundbites they needed in abundance. Wasn't any air left for him to talk about his economic platform, which might have helped him out.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Money. That was it. He had a commanding lead in enthusiasm over Romney as everyone here has noted.

I think this is a worse mistake than Cain to quit at this point. Romney is going to get destroyed, and now Rick is the presumptive nominee for 2016.

Gingrich is done.

[Likely Voter]

Look at the gallup chart, it all went wrong around MI.

If he won MI, that would have been a game changer. He had a lead and he blew it by taking Kennedy, Contraception and College, and then spent a week defending his comments. That is a week he couldn't afford as he was going up against Romney $ in paid media. 


The 2012 GOP race will be remembered as one where the party despearately wanted a credible conservative, and none of them ran, and of those that ran, one by one, they blew their chance to be that consolidating conservative.

[NVGonzalez]

Many missed opportunities and disorganization though in some aspects he had no control over that sometimes.

[Keystone Phil]

I think he was right in what he said on these topics but three words did him in: Kennedy, Contraception and College.

Like usual, his comments were taken out of context and that cost him Michigan. If he took Michigan, he would have taken Ohio and we would have had a real ball game, boys. There's no doubt in my mind. But at some point, they would have taken other comments out of context and it could have cost him other states. If it had happened after Michigan, however, the race would have already taken a turn against Romney. He could have still be derailed but this would have lasted a lot longer.

[pbrower2a]

The more that people saw Rick Santorum, the less they liked him. He at first let people forget why he lost his 2006 re-election bid in Pennsylvania... and then he reminded them why with displays of ruthlessness and even bigotry.

The economic message was nothing more than a promise... a wild one based upon "Obama is a failure, Obama is a failure!"

It could be that the Republican brand is hurt because even if it can't be tied to the personality of George W. Bush (a dreadful President, and the sooner that Republicans recognize that, the better) it can't be separated from the extremists of the Tea Party.

[Keystone Phil]

Wow. I had my previous comment already typed before seeing what Etch-A-Sketch Voter had to say. We not only had the same reasoning but same order of the wording.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

At the end of the day, it was lack of discipline. He could have overcome all the establishment and money and all that built in "rigging", had he not fallen for the media's traps and instead stayed on the message.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Like usual, his comments were taken out of context and that cost him Michigan.

Frankly, I don't think he had a chance of winning Michigan with Gingrich splitting the vote.

His view on education is refreshing, timely and very true. Education is far overpriced and needs to be cut back to be in line with what people make these days and it's true value.

Contraception, again, it's refreshing. His views are nice to see people recognizing the link between all of the progressive developments over time. They are all connected with one another, and each link is a link in an ever growing chain.

This election was the last chance for America to defeat two more of the final links in the chain which are going to get hammered down over the next four years.

I don't believe Romney can win, and he won't significantly challenge Obama. Depending on how angry the southern folks are (and believe me we are angry), he may get blown out in the south too.

This election is done, and I want to see how Politico explains how Romney -15 is going to actually win the election and avoid depressing the downballot races.

[Nagas]

Lots of good posts here.

Really, it was the campaign disorganization and lack of a win in MI. If he had both, winning OH, IL, and WI would have been likely, and possibly Washington and Alaska could have gone to him as well. No credible ABR was on the ballot in VA which gave more delegates to Romney.

[Keystone Phil]

Let me be clear, Ben: I don't mind what he said on those topics. It was refreshing and true. That's obviously a reason why I like Santorum. Sure, I'm tempted to say, "I wish he didn't say it if it meant him going further" but they only would have taken other comments out of context and hurt him sometime down the line. And, of course, I can't be angry with him for taking a principled stand on tough issues when that's what we are all about.

It's weird but the reason why he sunk is the reason why he caught on. It just doesn't help when your words are being spun like crazy and you have to dedicate over a week to address the comments.