Santorum (or Is Pete Right Again?)

On the basis of the slight surge in the single poll, Santorum has gotten attention on THE TODAY SHOW, among other places, this morning. The poll’s questionable showing of some momentum might be the cause of real momentum. In a brief interiew, Santorum’s message was about authenticity. Someone could say that he and Paul are the authentic candidates in the sense that they’ve sincerely stayed on message throughout the debate season. A campaign mainly focused on Ron and Rick would be fascinating insofar as each would be good in highlighting the inconsistencies just beneath the surface of the other guy’s alleged consistency. Rick has been skilled and gutsy in skewering Paul, but nobody has paid attention so far. Together they might be very effective in bashing Romney from different angles. The MSM spin will probably be that the emergence of Santorum exposes the repulsive moralism that animates so many Republicans—the hatred of gays and Muslims and so forth. And so in a strange way he’s a candidate they want to love to hate, just as the MSM wants to love Paul, although not as, it goes without saying, the actual president.

Paul still has no chance of being the Republican nominee, Santorum has some chance. If Newt has really collapsed and Mitt seems incapable of getting out of the twenties, then who else? This could be all wrong, of course: There’s also evidence that Paul peaked and is now fading a bit in Iowa and his showing might disappoint. And the expectations bar has now been set high for Rick, maybe too high.