Thursday, February 23, 2012

Santorum Misses Golden Opportunity

The Republican Party staged its 20th debate last night and Rick Santorum needed to do three things to cement his frontrunner status and deal a severe blow to the Romney campaign: 1.) look Presidential, 2.) continue to attack Romney on his flip flopping record and 3.) try not to look like an angry, judgmental crazy person when discussing social issues.
Instead he found himself back on his heels defending his voting record during his time in Congress.  Time and time again both Romney and Ron Paul sited specific examples where Santorum went against true conservative principles in order to get along.  The best Santorum could do to was a weak “politics is a team sport, folks” when challenged on his “Yes” vote on No child Left Behind. 
Santorum’s one shining moment was responding to Romney’s boast that while Governor of Massachusetts he balanced the budget all for years.  Santorum said: “As governor you were required to balance the budget.  So stop taking credit for doing something that you were required to do.  Your predecessor, Michael Dukakis balanced the budget all ten years that he was governor.  Do you think that qualified him to be President?  I don’t think do.”
The general consensus is that if Santorum wins Romney’s home state of Michigan he will cripple Romney’s campaign and clear a path for his own nomination.  Given that exit polls in the previous primaries and caucuses showed that “debate performance” is a key factor in how the voters cast their ballots; Wednesday’s debate provided a huge opportunity for Santorum to clear that path.
He failed.         

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