Well, apparently I don't know just WTF is going on. Ricky Santorum dropped out of the race today. You know, to spend more time with his family. And actually, as is the fad of the day, he's just "suspending" his campaign.
Yes, I'm sure it had nothing to do with his dropping poll numbers in his home state and the very real possibility that we would lose PA by the same percentage that he lost his Senate seat by (16%, in case you wanted to know). And that his funding had dried up to the point where he couldn't field enough ads to change that. Also, typically when a candidate "suspends" their campaign, that's an indication that there are big debts that need to repaid (and by "suspending" instead of "ending" the candidate is still allowed to raise money to pay those debts). Also, it means his delegates are not free to vote for whomever else. Ricky also survived past the April 1st quarterly deadline (which I'm sure brings him some benefit, but I'm too tired at the moment to go look it up).
While I know some of my friends may be giddy about the GOP finally closing in on one candidate, so now we can start the real campaign and start slinging mud in earnest, I would caution a little patience. Anything played out at this point will fly over the heads of most of the electorate and be "old news" by the conventions, let alone the fall. However, what I do expect to happen is the rest of the GOP primary will now go into the dark. Which is only to the benefit of the GOP. As you can see by the recent polling data after the "contraception kerfluffle", the GOP does better when it keeps it's collective trap shut.
4 comments:
I'm not worried. The GOP isn't very good at keeping it's collective trap shut, so I expect more foot-in-mouth disease emanating from what passes as their collective souls.
I'm actually very disappointed...
...in myself.
I mean, when I heard the news the other day, I really, really tried to come up with a really good post about the Santorum getting dried out, sent to the cleaners, etc., and I just couldn't think of enough relatively fresh "Santorum Google problem" jokes to justify a coupla hundred words on the blog. Which made me feel tired, lazy, uninspired. I thought I could do better, but apparently I can't.
Anyway, he'll be back. Sooner than we think if Romney does something really wacky and picks him as a veep nom, but I expect we'll see Romney run again in the next contested primary season, whether that's 2016 or, Heaven forbid, 2020.
Ack--I meant to write, "but I expect we'll see Santorum run again in the next contested primary season, whether that's 2016 or, Heaven forbid, 2020."
Stupid brain.
Hey Vince, well, I guess I meant that the most radical edges would no longer be in the media spot light. It doesn't matter if R. Reagan starts his campaign in Philadelphia, Missouri and makes a speech about "taking back the country", unless you connect the two and remember that he was standing in the place that tipped the Civil Rights movement into the "people realize it's the right thing to do."
Actually Eric, if I get my wishes, both Romney and Santorum will be running in the GOP contested primary in 2016.
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