Days of Change

Day 1155 – Three Tickets to Paradise

There are a lot of ways to look at the Iowa results. At 11pm with 90% of the count in, Santorum and Romney are nearly tied at 25%. Ron Paul is down to about 21% and Newt Gingrich had a weak showing at 13%. Two men have obvious tickets to the rest of the race. Paul has a ticket with a short expiration date. Gingrich has a ticket with a lot of restrictions. It will take some effort for him to move much further.

Rick Perry is most likely done. Santorum has enough gravitas. He also has good enough conservative credentials to take away from 6th place finisher Michele Bachmann. Jon Huntsman was deservedly decimated and only a first (or strong second) place showing in New Hampshire will let him move on at all.

The best part of this story is how this is the year of the stealth candidate. The media have consistently beaten on any candidate (except for Huntsman and Romney) with any standing in the polls. Rick Santorum has been behind the scenes for a while now. He’s the candidate of choice for Glenn Beck and many Tea Partiers. He’s already been run through the ringer in his last Senatorial campaign. He also has the uncanny ability to make the gay community go insane. Making your liberal enemies in the media act likes asses can be a good asset. GW Bush used it well in 2004.

Predictably, bloated pundits like Tweety Matthews are talking up Santorum. They want to get him fattened up for a potential slaughter in New Hampshire. The race is on. It’s Obama and the media against the Republicans and the rest of the country. We already know which candidate on the GOP the media wants to get the nomination. Vote different.