“But at the end of the evening, old steady Eddie's there. He's the guy you want to bring home to mom and dad.”
Well it looks like ol' Eddie is getting his time in the spotlight. With 7 leaders in Iowa in as many months, Rick Santorum is finally getting some momentum. A new poll shows him in third, pulling ahead of Gingrich.
Dismissed as a real contender from the beginning, Santorum is still short on campaign money and has just recently started running ads, but he has visited all of Iowa's 99 counties over the last 2 years. His connection with social conservative voters - very influential in Iowa - may be where the momentum is coming from. Wednesday Santorum was up with a new radio spot on hawkeye state airwaves touting endorsements by social conservative leaders. His pitch may be starting to pay off. From CNN's Polling Director:
"Most of Santorum's gains have come among likely caucus participants who are born-again or evangelical, and he now tops the list among that crucial voting bloc, with support from 22% of born-agains compared to 18% for Paul, 16% for Romney, and 14% for Gingrich."
So like all candidates becoming the Iowa Flavor of the Month, we can expect to see Santorum and his campaign out doing as much as media as possible. What we want to know:
What about post-iowa, what's his plan to woo more moderate voters, since carrying conservatives alone won't get him to the white house?
And for a politician who was handily defeated in his home state of Pennsylvania when running for re-election in the senate -- how can he win nationally? What's different today?
What do you think?