Israel Matzav

It's Ed Morrissey's doing: Santorum wins Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado

On Monday, I reported that Ed Morrissey had endorsed Rick Santorum for the Republican nomination for President. On Tuesday, Santorum - whose only previous win wasn't even acknowledged until days later - swept the caucuses in Minnesota, Missouri (Hat Tip: Memorandum) and Colorado (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). This is from the Minnesota and Missouri link:

Santorum solidly defeated Romney in Minnesota and Missouri, and he narrowly edged the former Massachusetts governor in Colorado, according to state GOP officials.

The victories mark a sharp turnaround for the former Pennsylvania senator, whose candidacy had been sputtering after he failed to capi­tal­ize on his narrow win in Iowa last month. Santorum’s wins across the Midwest Tuesday could bestow new legitimacy on his insurgent efforts and boost his fundraising in the critical period before next month’s major contests.

Santorum now appears to pose a more serious threat not only to Romney, but also to Gingrich, who had been positioning himself as the logical alternative to Romney.

Santorum staked his own claim on Tuesday.

“Conservatism is alive and well,” he told supporters at his election night party in Missouri. “I don’t stand here and claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”

For Romney, his poor showing Tuesday raised anew the question that has dogged his candidacy all along: Can the relatively moderate, former Massachusetts governor become an acceptable standard-bearer of a party that is increasingly dominated by evangelical conservatives and tea party activists who have long been skeptical of Romney?

And the Colorado race was nowhere near as close as that previous article made it sound. This is from the Colorado link.

Colorado's race see-sawed throughout the night until 11 p.m., when Colorado GOP chairman Ryan Call declared Santorum the winner, beating Mitt Romney 40 percent to 35 percent with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

"This is a major upset," said Denver-based political analyst Floyd Ciruli. "Definitely, there is a new story now."

Even Romney, who easily won Colorado's Republican contest in 2008 with 60 percent of the vote, acknowledged in his speech from the Auraria campus his new challenger.

"This was a good night for Rick Santorum, but I still expect to become the nominee," the former Massachusetts governor said. "I look forward to the contest to come."

A few comments. First, Santorum didn't capitalize on his win in Iowa, because Romney was declared the winner there. It was only days later - after Romney had capitalized on the momentum - that it was announced that Santorum won.

Second, I think that George Soros video I posted and others like it are hurting Romney's claim that he's a conservative. You can't win the Republican party today without a credible claim of conservatism.

Third, I suspect that deep down, a lot of conservatives are uncomfortable with Gingrich's personal life. Santorum's squeaky clean image is far more appealing to conservatives if they think he can win. And apparently, he can win.

And fourth, on a personal note, Santorum was maligned for claiming that he had never sat next to a woman on a couch other than his wife. Well, that sort of behavior resonates with many Orthodox Jews. I suspect that Santorum could raise a lot of money in our community by letting people knew that in addition to being a strong supporter of Israel, his moral standards accord with ours.

Labels: Campaign 2012, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, RIck Santorum

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:26 AM