I’ve spent a lot of the Republican nominating race complaining about the various demagogues and/or con artists like Trump, Cain, Bachmann, and Gingrich who, at one time or another either led the polls or were the main alternative to Romney. As Ross Douthat pointed out last month, the non-Ron Paul alternative to Mitt Romney who has shown the most substance and honesty has been Rick Santorum. Santorum embraced Paul Ryan’s premium support Medicare reform when the big ideas, transformational genius, Freddie Mac historian Newt Gingrich was calling the Ryan Budget “right-wing social engineering.” When Gingrich promised private accounts for Social Security without benefit cuts for anybody, Santorum pointed out that this would have added hundreds of billions of dollars to our already unsustainable deficits. Santorum was the only Republican to articulate a thoughtful critique of Romney and the only candidate to best Romney on health care in the debates.
So where is everybody now? Trump is a reality television show host and good for a “news” interview on Fox every once in a while. I guess he must be good for ratings. Cain dropped out early. I would say he dropped out in disgrace if I thought Cain had a sense of shame. Bachmann finished last of all the candidates who competed in Iowa and quit. Gingrich imploded, came back to win one state, and then imploded again. Santorum has won the popular vote in four of the eight states that have held contests. Good for Rick Santorum. Good for Republican voters. Imagine what the Republican electorate might have done if the Republican politicians had given them better choices.
