So what went wrong with Santorum?

[Communists For McCain]

More like "what went right with Santorum"?

In a world that made sense he would've been lucky to win the race for local dogcatcher;.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

Nothing necessarily "went wrong." I'm far more surprised that he's managed to take the second most delegates than I am that he hasn't taken the most. But I think that slightly better organization in Michigan and Ohio would have bought him at least a few more weeks of competitiveness.

As I said - I'm I-TX.

Romney can go rot in hell.

That's at least a mild overreaction, don't you think so?

Edit: Mecha asks the right question.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

I don't see why he should be sorry for making principled comments on difficult political issues and sticking to them. It's why he had an enthusiasm gap over Romney that would have carried over into the general.

Now Mitt no longer has a spending advantage, or an enthusiasm advantage, or an organisation advantage plus he is up against incumbancy and the media.

Right now, my map vs Obama has him up in Idaho + Utah. He's losing 48-2 with the CO-12 numbers.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

That's at least a mild overreaction, don't you think so?

I work for the church and do not want to pay for abortion ever. Now I have a choice between a candidate that wants to force me to pay for abortion and a candidate that wants to force me to pay for abortion.

Damn straight I'm pissed. 4 more years of the O because of Mittbot 2.0? Goddamn. What a waste of time.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

That's at least a mild overreaction, don't you think so?

I work for the church.

I'm sorry.

Also, please attribute your quotes.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

I'm sorry.

Yeah, we've been fighting Mittcare, and now Obamacare, and now we'll be scouting about to draft a third party candidate who does represent our views on this issue, since the republican party no longer represents us.

I hope that makes my anger more understandable.

[Communists For McCain]

I'm sorry.

Yeah, we've been fighting Mittcare, and now Obamacare, and now we'll be scouting about to draft a third party candidate who does represent our views on this issue, since the republican party no longer represents us.

I hope that makes my anger more understandable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Constitution_Party
Just a thought.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Yeah, that's where I'm leaning towards now. Those are good folks. Just so depressing to see the end result.

I wanted to vote for Rick in the primary here in TX and deliver the state for him with all the delegates.

[Likely Voter]

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.

True, except you seem to be blaming the media. A disciplined candidate would have stayed on message and could have won MI. Unlike when Gingrich was beaten by Romney in FL after he had his chance to be the conservative consolidator, Rick beat himself in MI

[memphis]

Santorum's biggest problem was Newt Gingrich.

^^^^^^^^^^
The math isn't that complicated.

[Progressive Realist]

Insulting mainline Protestants (a majority GOP constituency, for what it's worth), plus the fact that he's a hard-liner in comparison to the Republican Party, not to mention his extreme stances on women's rights and gays, plus the fact that being a far-right religious demagogue may play well with a certain subset of the population, but it completely turns off the rest of the population and unites them against you...all of this, in addition to a horrible political/campaign operation, plus the simple fact that making Pat Buchanan (of 1992) blush by comparison with your rhetoric, in the 2010s...

All of these are reasons why Rick Santorum's candidacy was doomed. Oh, and the fact that the GOP Establishment, while they don't trust Romney, despise someone like Santorum.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

Hardline = banning abortions done after the 39th week.

[Big Wiggly Style]

Poor campaign management. He focused too much on social issues and too little on the economy.

[ModerateCoward]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZRAvsZf1g

[ingemann]

Shouldn't the question more be what went right. When he entered the race and until last fall, Santorum was nothing more than a bad joke about his name, he failed until the last movement in being seen as a serious candidate, and suddenly he just became the main opponent of Romney and stayed so longer than any other ABR. For a guy who was crushed in his last election I don't think that's bad.
So I think any discussion of him among future historians, would be more why did he do so well?

[True Federalist]

Santorum's biggest problem was Newt Gingrich.

^^^^^^^^^^
The math isn't that complicated.

The math lies.  Rick would not have gotten all of Newt's supporters if he had dropped out and Newt would not have gotten all of Rick's.  They appealed to two separate flavors of anti-Romneyism and while there was some overlap, it wasn't anywhere close to 100%.

[IDS Speaker Ben Kenobi]

That optional dixie model is going to get phased out, Cheezy Grits. He has no further need to pander to the south.

[Progressive Realist]

Newt appeals more to the Tea Party, Rick more to the Religious Right, which have a good deal of overlap but are not the same thing.

[Paul Kemp]

Nothing went wrong. Actually a lot went right, which is why he was as successful as he was.

[True Federalist]

That optional dixie model is going to get phased out, Cheezy Grits. He has no further need to pander to the south.

Thing is, grits stick with you whether you like it or not.  Maybe I should find another name or go back to True Federalist, but I'll wait and see if inspiration strikes.

[So the Heroes Fall]

He was never supposed to be a serious candidate anyway. He just got lucky with the way the flavor of the week pattern was going and that so many were so anti-Romney. So nothing went "wrong" with him, his success itself was the fluke.

[hopper]

I think part of it was people learned that Santorum voted for George W. Bush's big government agenda in the US Senate. Another part was maybe non-religious Republicans didn't like Rick's rhetoric on religion.

[LINCOLN REPUBLICAN]

Well, as Wolf Blitzer said on Piers Morgan Tuesday night

Anyone who says they know who is going to win this election is wrong.  There's so much to happen between now and November.

This is going to be a brutal campaign, with hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by both sides.

[Lief]

Piers Morgan is an idiot.

[perdedor]

I don't agree with anything that Rick Santorum says or believes in, I do however think that he genuinely believes in the asinine things he says he does. Having principle is a detriment in the party of empty suits.