Does Rick Santorum have a snowball's chance in Florida
01/20/2012
This week, Florida celebrated the 35th anniversary of a very snowy day that reached all the way down to South Florida. Which got Crowley Political Report wondering - does Rick Santorum have a snowball's chance of winning the Sunshine State Republican primary?
Santorum has become a bit of a hard luck candidate.
Imagine what the pundits would have been saying before New Hampshire if Iowa had been able to count the votes correctly.
He would have been the candidate of the hour. Yup, the talking heads would have made more of a 34-vote Santorum win than an 8-vote Romney win. Santorum winning would have been big news. Losing by 8 votes - not so much.
And, as much as Santorum has tried, he has simply been unable to catch the imagination of CNN, MSNBC, FOX and the others.
He is ponderous in debates and often comes across as a nerd with a temper. He has neither the faux-presidential demeanor of Mitt Romney nor the quick mind and acid tongue of Newt Gringrich.
The past 12 months have been an incredible time for professional commentators - they have got almost nothing right. So who knows what surprises are in store.
Voters are feeling uncertain and ornery. And now, perhaps a bit weary and depressed. None of the candidates has been particularly inspiring to their fellow Republicans.
After Thursday night's debate, Santorum got little attention. Most of the focus was on Gingrich for brushing back CNN's John King over questions about Gringrich's relationship with an ex-wife. Some commentators compared the moment to Ronald Reagan's famous outburst - "I am paying for this microphone Mr. Green" - at the 1980 Nashua Telegraph debate.
Crowley Political Report was at the Reagan debate with George H.W. Bush. Reagan was much better than Gingrich. Judge for yourself below.
But first, back to the question - does Santorum have a snowball's chance in Florida? Yes. But the snow didn't last on the ground for more than a few hours in 1977, and Santorum may have to push past either Gingrich or Mitt Romney in South Carolina if he doesn't want to melt here.
(Note: in the video Reagan says Mr. Green. The moderator's name was actually Jon Breen.)
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I would like to see Mitt rmined Newt and Rick in upcoming debates that they also once supported the individual mandate. Rick really pushed Mitt on it in the last debate, while completely ignoring Mitt's promise that he would, as president, repeal ObamaCare. Rick used the term top-down government mandated system, several times, but that's exactly what he supported in 1994. If it's mandated, it's government. Newt has announced that he's in the race all the way to the GOP primary. I have to wonder: if he loses, will he throw his support behind Romney, or will he pout and just sit this one out?
Posted by: Mike | 02/29/2012 at 12:50 AM
"He...often comes across as a nerd with a temper."
Heh. Great description.
(Note: I don't hate Santorum, I just don't find him particularly compelling and am extremely pessimistic about his chances in a general election.)
Posted by: Sunshine State Sarah | 01/21/2012 at 12:58 AM