Seriously, it's time to watch Santorum
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Back in May, I caught up with Rick Santorum by phone as he was riding an Amtrak train from Philadelphia to Washington, and he was already complaining about how little attention he was getting, even from conservatives.
I wrote then that we shouldn't count him out of this presidential race. From the night he emerged in November 1990 as the upset winner of a suburban Pittsburgh congressional race, Mr. Santorum has made a habit of defying the odds (with the glaring exception being his last race, his out-and-out thumping by Bob Casey Jr. in Pennsylvania's 2006 U.S. Senate election).
Mr. Santorum was at it again Tuesday in Iowa, finishing a gnat's hair behind Mitt Romney in the Republican caucus vote.
Mr. Romney won with 30,015 votes to Mr. Santorum's 30,007. How small a slice of the American electorate is Mr. Santorum's tally? It's about a third as many votes as D. Raja got in losing the Allegheny County executive race last November. But that doesn't matter as long as enough people decide it's important.
For a week at least, Mr. Santorum's strong second-place showing will seem like a victory. Money and attention are already streaming his way. Of course, that could again slow to a trickle if he stumbles in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. The Republican presidential race has played out so far like the Whac-a-Mole arcade game, with one candidate or another bobbing up to prominence only to be whacked down again, and no other candidate has had much reason to turn his mallet on Mr. Santorum until now.
I should mention here that I say this as a Santorum observer, not a supporter. I thought I was clear about that in May when I outlined his uncanny ability to beat long odds, like his 1992 victory in a Mon Valley congressional district, a region that elects Republicans about as often as Steelers fans root for the Browns.
This is not an age when anyone is used to neutrality, though, particularly not in an opinion column. The feedback in May gave me a new appreciation for just how divisive Mr. Santorum is, as folks called and emailed to express their contempt for anyone even entertaining the notion of a Santorum presidency.
First Published January 5, 2012 12:00 am
