# In Sanctum Santorum-i.e. it's your turn! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 11, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556 "2012-02-11T22:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/41 "2012-02-15T15:10:56Z")
[http://realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican\_presidential\_nomination-1452.html](http://realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html) Has anyone else noticed that realclearpolitics has assigned the color brown to Santorum? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/42 "2012-02-15T19:49:00Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > [http://realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican\_presidential\_nomination-1452.html](http://realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-1452.html) So we have now had **5** different national-poll leaders for the GOP nomination this cycle. That has to be unprecedented… ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/43 "2012-02-15T19:50:42Z")
Religiously crazy, yes. Neocons, no. Let’s face it. Romney is a Mormon, and too many Republican primary voters are not willing to cast a vote for a Mormon. Sure, he’s got a less than clean record in many of these voters’ minds as a conservative, but so did McCain. Short of a conversion to a mainstream Christian religion, he’s going to struggle to get the nomination. He’s going to have fight tooth and nail against every Herman, Newt, and Rick who pops up. He needs to get some big guns out stumping for him. Someone like Chris Christy, who seems to be wildly popular with Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/44 "2012-02-15T20:00:41Z")
Widely popular. Getting wider. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/45 "2012-02-15T20:45:25Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Widely popular. Getting wider. Are we talking about Chris “Biggest Embarrassment Since Blagojevich” Christie? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/46 "2012-02-15T21:50:20Z")
A bit of fun in reference to his equatorial girth. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/47 "2012-02-15T22:22:06Z")
I meant wide and popular. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/48 "2012-02-15T23:12:19Z")
Is chainsaw-fellatio also wildly popular with Republicans? Their standards are puzzling . . . Well, I just rip on Christie 'cos John Stewart does. Going by [this,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Christie#Cell_phone_monitoring_and_alleged_entrapment) he’s probably not a bad guy to have in charge during a fiscal crisis. But ISTM, regardless of whether any of the various charges against him in his past is ever proved or disproved, he just can’t ever wash off the stench of Jersey corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/49 "2012-02-15T23:58:23Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Someone like Chris Christy, who seems to be wildly popular with Republicans. …for some unfathomable reason to those of us in NJ. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/50 "2012-02-16T00:16:52Z")
His defense of a Muslim colleague was commendable, it should be noticed. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/51 "2012-02-16T01:02:01Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > …for some unfathomable reason to those of us in NJ. . . . who for some unfathomable reason elected him . . . But, [who am I to talk.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott)☹ ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/52 "2012-02-16T01:31:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Religiously crazy, yes. Neocons, no. > > Let’s face it. Romney is a Mormon, and too many Republican primary voters are not willing to cast a vote for a Mormon. Sure, he’s got a less than clean record in many of these voters’ minds as a conservative, but so did McCain. > > Short of a conversion to a mainstream Christian religion, he’s going to struggle to get the nomination. He’s going to have fight tooth and nail against every Herman, Newt, and Rick who pops up. That’s not going to help him. Romney is mired at about 28% support (he seems to have gotten none of Newt’s people in the NY Times poll yesterday) and even I don’t think there are that many anti-Mormon Republicans. His problem is that he excites no one. Not even his backers. The other problem is that everyone knows his new conservative positions are a bad costume put on for this party. He just isn’t that good a liar. He might get a few more votes if he converted, but he is just a bad candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/53 "2012-02-16T01:59:15Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > . . . who for some unfathomable reason elected him . . . > > But, [who am I to talk.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott)☹ _bows head in shame_ ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/54 "2012-02-17T07:27:50Z")
[Rick Santorum leads in Ohio Poll](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/rick-santorum-leads-in-ohio-poll/2012/02/15/gIQABHwWFR_blog.html) > [@](#): > > Rick Santorum leads Mitt Romney in the key battleground of Ohio, a new Quinnipiac poll finds. > > The conservative former Pennsylvania senator takes 36 percent of the vote to the former Massachusetts governor’s 29 percent. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich follows with 20 percent; Texas Rep. Ron Paul is a distant fourth with 9 percent. I do not recall such a volatile primary season. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/55 "2012-02-17T08:11:20Z")
The March 1 debate has been cancelled. I think the Feb 22 debate in Arizona will be the last debate before Super Tuesday. It will be interesting to watch Romney and Santorum go at each other. Romney’s recovery in Florida began with the first debate after SC and he managed to follow it up with a devastating ad campaign against Newt. I don’t think Santorum will be that easy to take down since he doesn’t have Newt’s obvious weaknesses. Plus the surrogate/negative ad routine has diminishing returns and gets less convincing everytime Romney has to resort to it. So right now it’s looking like the race will still be competitive after Super Tuesday and it will boil down to a numbers game of who is amassing more delegates. I haven’t really analyzed the delegate counts though I have no doubt that we will soon see detailed analysis and projections from 538 et al. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/56 "2012-02-17T14:26:00Z")
I love that there have been 50,000 (conservative estimate) debates so far and all of them are now useless because their focus was Romney versus a bunch of people who are not Santorum. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/57 "2012-02-17T18:54:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I do not recall such a volatile primary season. The psychosis-inducing drugs we have been secretly administering to all Republicans\* are starting to show their cumulative effect. 😃 - Via scratch-‘n’-sniff patches in certain items of their junk mail. Republicans **always** open them and **always** sniff them, no psychologist even has a theory as to why. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/58 "2012-02-17T19:16:47Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > That’s not going to help him. Romney is mired at about 28% support (he seems to have gotten none of Newt’s people in the NY Times poll yesterday) and even I don’t think there are that many anti-Mormon Republicans. His problem is that he excites no one. Not even his backers. The other problem is that everyone knows his new conservative positions are a bad costume put on for this party. He just isn’t that good a liar. > He might get a few more votes if he converted, but he is just a bad candidate. There are good ones? The only ones left are Newt “Samsonite” Gingrich, Ron “Crazy old Coot” Paul, and Rick “Birth Control is Bad” Santorum. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/59 "2012-02-17T19:31:27Z")
Here’s an interesting twist: Newt Gingrich has [secured another $10 million](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57380147-503544/gingrich-to-get-another-$10-million-from-casino-backer-sources/) from his biggest donor Sheldon Adelson, but it seems this was done specifically to [prevent Santorum from securing the nomination](http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/02/16/adelson-goal-take-down-santorum/): > [@](#): > > (A)ccording to people who have discussed the matter with Mr. Adelson…If Mr. Gingrich could afford to continue campaigning, one of those people said, he might be able to draw off conservative and evangelical voters from Mr. Santorum, improving the chances of Mitt Romney, who Mr. Adelson believes has a better chance to win November’s general election. … > > Mr. Adelson doesn’t oppose Mr. Santorum, but he doesn’t share the former Pennsylvania senator’s socially conservative positions, including his strong anti-abortion views, associates said. ---
**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556/60 "2012-02-17T19:58:54Z")
This Santorum thing, it seems to me like it’s basically the same thing that happened with Huckabee back in 2008. Before long, the drones will get in line and vote for the electable candidate, ie. Romney. That’s what always happens. A pity, because an Obama-Santorum match-up would be hilarious, and great fun to watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-sanctum-santorum-i-e-its-your-turn/612556.md?page=4)