I shouldn’t have called off the Santorum Surge Watch so soon. Yes, Rick Perry is doing everything he can to position himself in the center of the GOP’s random wheel o’ candidate surges. But Santorum is the one getting today’s “surprise Iowa winner?” columns. Tom Fitzgerald brings the poll data, the CW-changin’ quotes, and the in-person testimonials.
“God did it,” Linda Holub said, when asked how she made up her mind. She said that many conservative Christians do not trust Gingrich or Romney and are looking for a candidate with a “biblical worldview” who can win.
“I talked to a lot of my Christian friends, and they thought Michele couldn’t win because she’s a woman,” Holub said. “For whatever reason, a man is more acceptable to more people. As an assertive woman I don’t like that one bit, but that’s the way it is,” she said.Christopher Santarelli goes even further at The Blaze, whose readers presumably like Santorum more than Fitzgerald’s Philly-area voters. The candidate is “the best-kept secret in the campaign” (a voter), “old steady Eddie” (Santorum himself), the guy who “has survived where others have not” (Santarelli). Anecdotes, voter adoration, an endorsement today from author Brad Thor. What else do we have? The PPP poll, the one showing Paul leading Iowa: It shows Santorum at 10 percent.
Ron Paul - 23% (+2)Well, that’s… that’s okay. What else do we have?
Mitt Romney - 20% (+4)
Newt Gingrich 14% (-8)
Michele Bachmann - 10% (-1)
Rick Perry - 10% (+1)
Rick Santorum - 10% (+2)
Jon Huntsman - 4% (-1)
Gary Johnson - 2% (+1)
Much better. At +20, Rick Santorum has the highest net favorable ratings in the field. Bachmann’s at +18, but she, as you learned, has a problematic combination of chromosomes. Paul’s at +16, but no one has risen so high in this field without having to answer some tough vetting questions. (James Kirchick’s new article in The Weekly Standard, about the negative Paul associations that the media never covers, is almost plaintive.)