So there it is, the one true alternative to Mitt Romney emerged last night, Rick Santorum.
Rick Santorum won big last night winning contests, some handily, in Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri. Not a strong second place, winning. Some people will understandably try to downplay the nature of the victory pointing out the difference between primaries and caucuses and delegate allocations, but all that misses the point.
It is now either Rick Santorum or imminently evitable Romney.
Rick Santorum has been written off time and time again by pundits and pedants, only to once again, and perhaps finally emerge as the conservative alternative to the militantly moderate Romney. The reason for this is two-fold. One–Santorum has shown himself to be a consistent and principled candidate throughout this interminable primary season. His debate performances have been stellar and consistently improving. He absolutely left Mitt Romney stumbling with his dismantling of Romneycare and the mandate a few weeks ago. Further, he has managed to stay out of the personal and vicious mudslinging that has been the dominant focus of the campaign for the last 6 weeks. Simply put, he has been a superior candidate to his rivals and getting better. So all that is one. The second reason is simple. Obama.
