Mr. Santorum: He Could Win Pennsylvania’s Popular Vote & Receive Zero Delegates — A Goose Egg — Indeed! (“his time has passed” / “terrified”)

THE UNPREPARED, UNTESTED MR. SANTORUM

In the last week, we have all read articles or seen interviews with Santorum and Gingrich operatives passionately stating how their candidate is in this race to the end and to win it. Keep in mind the reasons they are so vociferous. Every one of them receives a salary from the campaign. It is in the self-interest of each campaign worker to keep their candidate in the race as long as possible and so they will always continue to talk him up!

Dan Hirschhorn wrote an Op-Ed in The Daily yesterday that provides outstanding insight into Pennsylvania politics as related to Mr. Santorum. It is titled, “NOT PENN. PALS — Even if he wins his home state, Santorum could walk away without delegates”

Santorum Delegates: As in NONE.

BTW, if you have not read Karl Rove’s latest, it is worth the read to see why Obama is really worried!

EXCELLENT reporting by Hirschhorn!:

As Rick Santorum desperately tries to make a dent in Mitt Romney’s formidable delegate lead, he faces an unlikely obstacle on the primary calendar: his home state of Pennsylvania.

Yes, Santorum is currently favored — though hardly a lock — to win the popular vote in the state he represented in Congress for 16 years.

But Pennsylvania’s non-binding primary rules for distributing delegates raise the prospect that Santorum, who has said he’ll win the vast majority of the state’s delegates, could actually come away from next month’s primary empty-handed at a time when he can ill-afford it.

Which means the April 24 primary could represent yet another chance for Romney — who kicked off his Pennsylvania campaign this week by trotting out supportive Republican leaders — to finally deal Santorum a knockout blow.
[...]
Interviews with about two dozen Pennsylvania Republicans and a review of the delegate candidates brings Santorum’s challenge into focus.

The ranks of delegate hopefuls are littered with Republican state committee members, elected officials and others with close party ties, who will ultimately be more beholden to a state party leadership that, while officially neutral, is visibly leaning in Romney’s direction and increasingly vocal in its fear that Santorum could hurt the party in a general election — especially after witnessing his 18-point drubbing in 2006.

Romney, Ron Paul and even Newt Gingrich got some of their supporters on the ballot as delegate candidates. But Santorum’s campaign officials, who have struggled with ballot organization issues across the country, privately concede that they just didn’t have the time, nor resources, to organize their own supporters to run as delegates when the paperwork was due earlier this year.

“At this point the delegate candidates are lined up everywhere but with Rick,” said Charlie Gerow, a longtime GOP strategist supporting Gingrich.

The state party has so far not made an endorsement in the race. But Bob Asher, a Republican National Committeeman and one of the most powerful forces in state politics, is backing Romney. So are top party fundraisers and members of Congress from the Philadelphia suburbs who, like many elected and party officials, worry that a Santorum candidacy would send independents fleeing from the GOP and damage their prospects in down-ballot races.

“I think most people recognize we have to put forward the best candidate to beat Barack Obama,” said Rep. Jim Gerlach, a suburban congressman and Romney backer who’s also a delegate. “There’s a lot of support to make sure Gov. Romney is ultimately our nominee.”

Added a top Republican fundraiser who’s neutral in the race: “People like Rick, and they often like his policies. But his brand is so tarnished and we’re all terrified at the prospect of him on top of the ticket.”

After the primary, elected delegates would gather and decide whom to support — and in past cycles party leadership has had a heavy hand in swinging the vote how it wants.

Gov. Tom Corbett would also likely enjoy significant sway over the delegates. While he hasn’t endorsed, he’s a politically cautious animal and Republicans familiar with his thinking say that, barring a tectonic shift in the race, he’ll almost certainly push for Romney.
[...]
It remains to be seen how much Romney will invest in the so-called “beauty contest” of a Pennsylvania primary that doesn’t directly award delegates. Sources close to the Romney campaign said the prospect of delivering a death blow on Santorum’s home turf has been discussed, but senior Romney strategists didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Delegates aside, several Republicans stress that despite his comfortable lead in recent state polls, Santorum could still end up losing the popular vote to Romney once paid advertising takes its toll — something that would be impossible for Santorum to spin as anything less than an embarrassment.
[...]
Meanwhile, many tea party activists and fiscally focused Republicans harbor bitter feelings for Santorum’s endorsement of the moderate Sen. Arlen Specter in 2004 and his love affair with earmarks.

“There’s a lot of resentment over that,” said Don Adams, president of the pro-Romney Independence Hall Tea Party PAC. “While no candidate running has a perfect background, being from Pennsylvania and having voted for Rick three times, I don’t think he’s the kind of guy that I or other tea party folks would like to see as president right now.”

Former Rep. Phil English, a Santorum friend who’s backing Romney, gave voice to many in the party establishment who remember Santorum fondly but think his time has passed.

“I think Rick Santorum is credited with being a hard-working senator who was loyal to the party,” English said. “Having said that, I think his catastrophic loss in 2006 with unified party support and an enormous amount of money demonstrated to most Republicans that he had lost touch with the voters of Pennsylvania and had really lost his appeal.”

[emphasis added]

“Candidly, I believe most corporations actually don’t mind big government.” ~ Rick Santorum

About Victor Lundquist:

Victor is a businessman working in the healthcare industry. He and his wife of 33 years have five children and four grandchildren. Vic has been blogging for Mitt Romney since 2007.
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