Rick Santorum: There is no path for him

Rick Santorum

Today, near Pittsburgh, Rick Santorum, former Senator from Pennsylvania, two time candidate for president, and hard-liner right wing conservative announced that he trying a second time to become the President of the United States.

Iowa radio talk show host Steve Deace, a controversial man widely credited with being kingmaker in Iowa in the 2008 election, costing Romney the nomination then, told me this morning “I don't see a path, but Rick's entire political career has been overcoming the odds from his very first race.”

Santorum is not in the top tier of candidates at this moment in the polls, but that does not, by any stretch of the imagination mean he is out of the race. Far from it. History is speckled with long shot contestants coming from nowhere to win, and Santorum has what quite a few politicians in the race for the Republican Nomination do not: strong backing not only for his agenda, but for him personally.

Santorum’s route to nomination will not be easy. He opposes gay marriage at a time when it is not popular to do so, bringing down on him the wrath even of the top Republican in HBO’s hit show Newsroom. And he also is seen by many as overly defensive and uptight. He also has a history of ideas that are a bit weird, to say the least. For instance, in 2012 on the campaign trail Santorum said "See, I always believed that when you run for president of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter.” Where he got that from we'll never know.

In his announcement speech moments ago, Santorum held up a piece of coal and spoke of his grandfather, a coal miner, who had come to America “for this, freedom!” The moment encapsulated something many in recent weeks have been talking about, how Santorum has moved from focusing primarily of social issues, as he did in his last campaign, to economic issues, and the fate of the blue collar worker.

At a time when America is seeing a shift which many say is decimating the middle class, one would think that this would be a rallying cry, but the truth is that before Santorum gets to run in the general election, he has to win the nomination. And the Republicans that vote in that are historically better off, more likely to be white than the general electorate, and more rallied by social issues than economic ones.

Santorum has many weaknesses, and at this moment few strengths. There is no voter base which is expressly his, and the field is so crowded that one can only agree with Deace, I don't see a path for Santorum to the White House.

Andrew C. Abbott