With the exception of Jon Huntsman, who decided not to compete in Iowa, every GOP presidential contender, including the early exiting Herman Cain, has at one time been the hands-down, sure-thing, everyone-else-forget-it favorite to win the Iowa caucuses.
The candidate now on the rise is Rick Santorum, who seems to be the consistent conservative the not-Romney voters have been looking for. They speed-dated Rep. Michele Bachmann (too erratic), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (too many awkward pauses in the conversation), Herman Cain (too unfaithful), Newt Gingrich (too self-absorbed) and Rep. Ron Paul (too weird) and now are, for present, eyeing Rick Santorum as their steady.
Naturally, the jilted suitors are angry and lashing out. Perry (who took his share of Uncle Sam’s largess) pouts that Santorum favored earmarks. Gingrich says the Santorum infatuation won’t last. And Ron Paul says he’s a bully.
These spurned paramours’ friends dutifully echo their pals’ complaints. Suddenly, Santorum is a big-government conservative or a Pat Buchanan wannabe.
Actually, he’s none of those things. He’s robustly pro-life, determined to swim against the gay rights tide (not my preference but it plays well in Iowa), fully engaged in the war against jihadist terror and a not-quite free-market capitalist. He wants less regulation and lower taxes, but also wants to tip the playing field in favor of domestic manufacturing. It’s not fair to say he’s departing from modern conservatism by “picking winners and losers” since our existing tax code already pushes certain social aims (home ownership, charitable giving). But it’s worth debating whether the cure to what ails the Rust Belt is a revival of manufacturing or whether a broader pro-growth economic agenda is desirable.
Certainly he’s a bit intense, which can come across as angry. But he’s got a lovely family, and he’s not going to embarrass you in public. After the slew of characters who’ve come through, you can understand why many, for now, want to spend some time checking out Santorum. Considering the competition, they could do a lot worse.
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