Santorum Is Out, Let The Campaigns Begin

After 11 state victories, and the highly improbable success achieved by Rick Santorum over the last 4 months, The Republican nomination process is effectively over. After a weekend of soul searching, compounded by the hospitalization of his daughter Bella, Father Rick announced his 2012 race for the White House was over.

Several factors can be looked at for his departure from the race at this time. The health of his daughter, is seen as genuine, but from a political stand point probably not a major factor. The major contributor, from my perspective, is the realization he was not going to be able to carry his home state of Pennsylvania. As badly as he wanted to somehow erase his 18 point loss to Bob Casey in 2006, the fact is the polling just wasn't going his way. Add to that the scorched earth strategy Mitt Romney had put into full force, and Santorum was on the ropes before the fight began. On April 3rd, Santorum held a 6 point lead in Pennsylvania, on that same day he lost by 4 points in Wisconsin. By April 5th, Romney had taken a 5 point lead in Pennsylvania, that's an 11 point swing in just 2 days. The battle would have been hard fought, but catastrophic for Santorum if he had lost his home state for a second time.

As I see it, Santorum's lost his chance at the nomination just before the Michigan primary. One week out, and with Romney on the ropes in his home state, Santorum started to verbalize his radical views on women's rights, contraception, and the role of religion in government. This sent just enough people running for cover, which in turn allowed Romney to win Michigan, and put Father Rick on the slippery slope that ended yesterday in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. In addition, his failure to get off those highly charged and incendiary issues, helped further promote his losses in Ohio, Illinois, and finally Wisconsin. He had an excellent chance at winning the Republican nomination, if he had just not taken the exit to crazy town. Sadly, that is an address that more and more Republicans are calling home, and it will carry a similar cost come November.

So mark your calenders, yesterday began the 2012 Presidential race in earnest. It is going to be Mitt Romney (R) vs. Barack Obama (D). The contrast between candidates couldn't be more stark, and the stakes for the nation couldn't be higher. So let the games begin, and may the best man win.