Keller @ Large: Santorum Wins Good For Democratic Process

March 14, 2012 8:21 AM

Rick Santorum. (Photo by Jay LaPrete/Getty Images)

Reporting Jon Keller

Filed under

Heard On WBZ NewsRadio 1030, Keller @ Large, Politics, Syndicated Local, Watch + Listen

Featured Content

Best Sports Mullets

Hot Celebrity Moms

Hollywood Tattoos

Strangest Animal Stories

BOSTON (CBS) – What a night last night for Rick Santorum – sort of.

Listen to Jon’s commentary:

The former senator won both the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, and may have moved the other non-Romney conservative in the race, Newt Gingrich, a bit closer to the exit, his denials notwithstanding.

But because of the party rules, Santorum didn’t make a dent in Romney’s large delegate lead, winning 21 delegates for his two victories while Romney won 16 and Gingrich took 17.

You may recall that poor organization by Santorum kept him from enjoying a similar split in Ohio, where he nearly beat Romney, but saw Romney take home nearly double his delegate haul.

If the pattern of this race continues – with Romney winning more-moderate states and grabbing a tidy share of the delegates even in state where he loses – Santorum’s victories in arch-conservative strongholds won’t mean a bucket of candy corn come convention time next August.

Check that, he’ll get to make a speech at the convention watched by his family and friends and people who fell asleep with the channel left on C-Span.

Nonetheless, Santorum gets high marks for determination, and even if you think he’d be a sure loser in the fall if he ever managed to grab the nomination, his success does have some positive aspects.

For starters, it proves that money can’t buy primary victories.

If it did, this race would have been over weeks ago.

You could make a case that Romney wouldn’t have run as close as he did last night without the tons of cash he spent on TV ads, but he still lost to a guy who spent peanuts.

And Santorum’s success gives a needed voice to a large segment of the Republican electorate that is fed up with the establishment, of its own party as well as in Washington.

They are ignoring the elected-official endorsements and the pundits and voting for what they believe in, and that is not to be scoffed at.

My own view is Santorum is a loose cannon who would be a disastrous nominee.

But even if it’ll all be forgotten by August, his run of success is a sign that, like it or not, the democratic process still has some actual democracy left in it.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

Keller @ Large: Santorum Wins Good For Democratic Process

tsalnew

Is the large segment of the republican electorate fed up or uninformed, These are the states where a large percentage of republican voters believe Obama is Muslim. It sure seems to raise a lot of questions as to why they voted for Santorum.

response

I would just question how you know that a large percentage of republicans think that? and why does it raise a lot of questions as to why they voted for Santorum? – your comment makes no sense

tsalnew

Google it – you must have missed the news stories. Here is a quick summary of a poll just taken. Hope it helps

Reporting from Washington — After years of battling false claims and viral emails alleging that he is a Muslim, President Obama hasn’t gotten far among Republican voters in Alabama and Mississippi – about half still believe he is Muslim and about 1 in 4 believes his parents’ interracial marriage should have been illegal, a new poll shows.

Gail

Jon,
Speaking of loose cannons, I don’t remember your mentioning foot-in-mouth Biden in the last 4 years.
tsalnew

And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse – there is discussion of a Santorum/Gingrich ticket.

Gail

There’s nothing wrong with that. Almost any republican has to be better than Obama.

Judy

Loose Cannon?? Why? because what he says, believes in and lives is traditional,, God- fearling values..
Jon, I usually agree with your wise insights,and comments but don’t get this one!!!

Jon Keller

Hi Judy, thanks for commenting here. That was a reference to his propensity for what I see as excessive rhetoric – for instance, his comment about JFK’s speech on Catholicism making him want to “vomit,” or his suggestion that Boston “liberalism” was the cause of the priest sex-abuse scandal.

tsalnew

Or that satan is attacking America??????

Ollie

Interesting comment by tsalnew regarding the ” states where a large percentage of republican voters believe Obama is Muslim” – When one can’t argue fact, just throw the bombs. Your political and demographic expertise is underwhelming at best in this case. We thoght you were better than that.

tsalnew

Ollie – have you been watching the news??? Check my response to “:response” – I am actually using poll numbers that are being reported. I am not making it up – I’m glad you think I am better than that, however – you just had a momentary lapse did you :)

response

just because it is being reported or out in a poll, you have no idea if in fact it is true…..I’ve been known when a pollster calls me to give them bogus information
tsalnew

And you don’t know it is not true. My guess is that it is somewhere in between which is still disturbing.

FireGuyFrank

Jon, you went a word too far in the headline (assuming you had anything to do with it, of course). Santorum’s win was good for Democrats.

The conventional wisdom had been that with Santorum and Gingrich both in, they would split the conservative vote leaving the moderate middle to Romney. Well, how’s that working out this morning? Yes, they split, but Romney didn’t win. Now there will be more attacking each other while the president sits on his ever-growing coffers and let’s the Republicans implode.

mikey

…”and lets the Republicans implode”(along with the rest of the country).

tsalnew

mikey – if the republicans can’t even get it together within their own party, how in heavens name will they be able to do anything to fix the mess we are in? I have to laugh when people make the comment that this is better than Obama……………what is better?? I’ll stick with your frequent comment that we are all doomed.
mikey

..doomed, something about being in a handbasket and where we’re headed.
tsalnew

I can tell we are the same age – I heard that handbasket statement a lot growing up …………… as I remember it was mostly in reference to me :)

Jon Keller

Good for “the Democratic process,” not “Democrats”

tsalnew

I hope most everyone got that – we all should be pretty good by now at figuring what a person means. We don’t have to mean it the way we say it ………….. or is that say it the way we mean it!

gramps

Romney won 41 delegates from Tuesday’s contests, compared to 35 for Santorum…..

Romney won on Tuesday!

Do the math….

gramps

gramps

The ‘Liberal Media’ failed to report this!

gramps
gramps

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2012/03/romney_won_tuesday_delegate_ha.html
tsalnew

Hi gramps – where ya been?

Media doesn’t have to report it – Romney is telling everyone and everyone!

mikey

I think Santorum’s win is good news for the Democratic process and at this point the helter-skelterness of the Republican Party is certainly good news for President Obama. “Four more years,” sounds like parole being denied.

Tsal

But Mikey what is the answer to my 12:19 question. If the GOP had someone like Scott brown who can vote his conscience and not his party I’d jump on that bandwagon. Not as an anti Obama vote but as a what’s best for the country vote. As an attempt to getus working together How can the party be so clueless.

andyme

Rick is going nowhere, Newt is going back to Georgia, Mitt won Tuesday with more delegates and the Dems had a small victory because this race continues.
Alabama abd Mississippi is not the face of the nation, if it is, we are all in trouble.
JohnC

Whichever republican wins the nomination, he will lose bigtime to our incumbent President in November. The Republican party is so fragmented that none of the candidates will get the support that they need to win.