Rick Santorum probably did the most for his campaign in last night's CNN Republican Debate in South Carolina. His main point was that he is the candidate that has a proven Conservative record and is consistent enough to draw a clear distinction between himself and Obama. He was forceful and articulate when he explained his positions and policies.
His criticism of Newt was particularly effective because it is what most Conservatives fear about Newt; he is unsteady and every now and again will come up with something really off the wall and counter to his core values (think of the commercial with Nancy Pelosi about global warming). He was also the first to give credible critique of Mitt Romney. Whereas Newt attacked Mitt's record with capitalism (see Santorum's critique of Newt) Santorum went after him on the issues where Romney is weak: abortion and Romneycare. There were two of Mitt's advisers who were used by the Obama administration to craft Obamacare. And Mitt, while he is now pro-life, didn't have the greatest record when appointing judges and not clearly defining what abortions services would be covered under Romneycare.
The most revealing line of the night came from Newt Gingrich when he was asked what he would do over again on his campaign. His answer was that he wouldn't have hired normal political consultants and tried to be normal politician running a normal campaign. Sure, we all make mistakes and hopefully can learn from them. But isn't one of Newt's big selling points that he has Washington experience and can change the system? It seems like this is another signal of his lack of good judgement from the get go, and is another reason why Conservatives are nervous about him.
That being said, it seems like Gingrich is surging in the polls and has overtaken Romney as the frontrunner, and Santorum has dropped into last place, behind Ron Paul (figure that one out!). We'll see how things pan out tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment