This more properly belongs in the comments section of the Santorum post below, but it got longish and may be of interest to those who don’t read the comments much. So apologies…
It is true the Democrat nominee for President will have a tough time flipping many previously red states in the general, although you can expect Ohio to go blue. And Louisiana, Colorado, Virginia, Missouri, and Florida aren’t GOP locks. So the fact Rudy can put California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in play for the GOP is crucial, and nice. My Santorum post, though, was mostly considering what Rick’s endorsement could do for Rudy in the Pennsylvania primary. This question may actually matter now that fast Eddie has done his shuck and jive and we’re considering moving the primary up again.
So when it comes to the primary I think the commenter (who happens to be my father, natch) may be wrong that a person put off by a Santorum endorsement is too left wing dig Giuliani anyway. Santorum was whipped in the Philadelphia suburbs, losing Chester county by ten points, and Montgomery and Delaware Counties by twenty. Twenty! Yet there about 40% more registered Republicans in Chester and Delaware counties and 15% more registered Republicans in Montgomery country. [Registration stats here, county 2006 election stats here.]
So clearly there are a bunch of Republicans eligible to vote in the primary who think Rick Santorum is an embarrassing troglodyte. They would rather dance naked on stage at the Kimmel Center in front of the membership of the Union League than run the risk of being associated with him, even if tangentially. Granted, they know not why they feel that way. They just know the Inky and NPR have painted him as a racist, homophobic latter day incarnation of Curtis LeMay, and one loses status points in the RINO suburbs for those sorts of social transgressions. It ain’t the Main Line of 1938 anymore.
So I stand by my initial evaluation: Let Santorum endorse the more “conservative” Romney. I haven’t thought through how this would work out nationally, but I do know in PA Rudy would then clean up in southeastern PA and run pretty strong in the rest of the state, thereby winning the state nomination. Then Rick, during the general, can tell everyone that Giuliani is conservative enough for him, which will hopefully be a small factor among many discouraging the Christian Right from staying home on election day and wondering who, exactly, represents them. I think Giuliani will do an excellent job of representing us, of course, but one wonders if the NRLC will feel the same way…
I guess the question is would it be better to have Rick’s support now to help with socially conservative voters in the primary states throughout the country, and just fight hard for PA despite that. Maybe. This politics stuff is complicated. And long. And subtle. And peppered with the potential for random pitfalls. Just like baseball!
