Rick Santorum ends bid for the White House, backs Rubio

[webfact]

Rick Santorum ends bid for the White House, backs Rubio
VIVIAN SALAMA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum says he is ending his bid for the White House and will support Republican candidate Marco Rubio.

Santorum said Wednesday on Fox News Channel that he is "suspending our campaign as of this moment."

He described Rubio as a "born leader" and praised his "optimistic" message.

Santorum entered the race in May as a heavy underdog in a crowded Republican field featuring more than a dozen high-profile candidates — many of them newcomers to presidential politics.

His longshot status kept him off the mainstage in all of the presidential debates, his campaign never gaining enough steam to put him up against heavyweight contenders like billionaire Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-04

[Ulysses G.]

He was mostly a waste of space, but I give him credit for supporting Rubio. Marco Rubio has other candidates in both parties running scared. Hillary does not stand a chance.

[boomerangutang]

He was mostly a waste of space, but I give him credit for supporting Rubio. Marco Rubio has other candidates in both parties running scared. Hillary does not stand a chance.

....running scared? ...from Rubio? Gimeeabrayk. Ulysses, weren't you one of the crowd who, 4 years ago, were certain Romney and Ryan had the election wrapped up, and Obama didn't stand a chance?

[OMGImInPattaya]

Is this bozo still associated with homosexual sex acts on Google searches...one of the best Google hacks ever ?

[Ulic]

This was supposed to be his turn. He finished 2nd to Romney last time. Far more religious and conservative than Romney but he had absolutely no traction. I guess just too beige. Oh well it will soon be down to Trump-Cruz and Rubio.

[up-country_sinclair]

It will be interesting to see if Santorum's supporters move to Senator Cruz or Senator Rubio.

[Publicus]

 

It will be interesting to see if Santorum's supporters move to Senator Cruz or Senator Rubio.

Salient point indeed.

The most extreme Republican party religious evangelical support has gone over the years 2008-2016 to Huckabee who won in Iowa in 2008, Santorum who won Iowa in 2012, Cruz who won it there last week, and to Rubio who by his stealth appeal to evangelicals shot to a close third place finish right behind Trump who himself won a number of rightwing evangelicals.

Santorum stepping out of the race endorsed Rubio who is a fellow Catholic. Rubio is however all over the place in his religious intensity. He converted to Mormon then back again to Catholic. Rubio goes also to some kind of blood and netherworld congregation the vast majority of ordinary Christians would never do or consider.

So the choice might condense to the issue of personal style. Ideological conservatives and rightwinghers might prefer Cruz and his philosophical consistency and his agility in campaigning.

Other evangelicals might prefer Rubio whose greatest strength is his all things to all people techniques which is limited by his programmatic and prepped sounding statements. While all candidates rehearse, Rubio seems more than others to recite lines while thinking of the stage directions.

Cruz is methodical and self-confident in contrast to Rubio who speaks too fast and is excitable, and who comes across as also inconsistent. Cruz's voice itself sounds tinny whereas Rubio sounds like he's reciting something very quickly before he might suddenly forget it or go blank on some part of it.

So it will be interesting to see where the rightwing Republican evangelical supporters of Santorum might end up. Also the Rand Paul supporters after Paul pulled out without making any endorsement...probably Cruz if the choice is between Cruz and Rubio.

[Jingthing]

He was mostly a waste of space, but I give him credit for supporting Rubio. Marco Rubio has other candidates in both parties running scared. Hillary does not stand a chance.

....running scared? ...from Rubio? Gimeeabrayk. Ulysses, weren't you one of the crowd who, 4 years ago, were certain Romney and Ryan had the election wrapped up, and Obama didn't stand a chance?

Speaking of Rubio RUNNING SCARED!

Marco Rubio is running scared

If he keeps playing the boy in the bubble, they may reconsider.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marco-rubio-is-running-scared/2016/02/03/787074bc-caca-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

[boomerangutang]

Rubio will likely be Cruz's VP choice. Regardless, they'll flame out like R&R in 2012. Evangelicals are a small but vocal minority. Less people are sticking with archaic ideas like; virgin birth and a wooden ark filled with two of every species. Americans, in part thanks to the internet free-flow of info, are leaning more to real science. The days of arch conservatives with their fire & brimstone 'better dead than red' mind-sets are passing. People born in the late 1990's are able to vote now.

In their defense, rich arch-conservatives are good at getting in their expensive cars and going to the polls to vote. If the millions of left-of-liberal pot-smoking dough heads got off their butts to vote, the US would be more liberal than it is.

[DM07]

From one religious nut to the next!

[lannarebirth]

Rubio will likely be Cruz's VP choice. Regardless, they'll flame out like R&R in 2012. Evangelicals are a small but vocal minority. Less people are sticking with archaic ideas like; virgin birth and a wooden ark filled with two of every species. Americans, in part thanks to the internet free-flow of info, are leaning more to real science. The days of arch conservatives with their fire & brimstone 'better dead than red' mind-sets are passing. People born in the late 1990's are able to vote now.

In their defense, rich arch-conservatives are good at getting in their expensive cars and going to the polls to vote. If the millions of left-of-liberal pot-smoking dough heads got off their butts to vote, the US would be more liberal than it is.

Rich arch-conservatives were always thus. It is the rich Democrats that have moved America to the right. They don't care who wins, Cruz or Clinton, all the same to them as they'll be taken care of in either eventuality.

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/hillarys-financial-armada-233033648.html

[Jingthing]

Rubio will likely be Cruz's VP choice. Regardless, they'll flame out like R&R in 2012. Evangelicals are a small but vocal minority. Less people are sticking with archaic ideas like; virgin birth and a wooden ark filled with two of every species. Americans, in part thanks to the internet free-flow of info, are leaning more to real science. The days of arch conservatives with their fire & brimstone 'better dead than red' mind-sets are passing. People born in the late 1990's are able to vote now.

In their defense, rich arch-conservatives are good at getting in their expensive cars and going to the polls to vote. If the millions of left-of-liberal pot-smoking dough heads got off their butts to vote, the US would be more liberal than it is.

I can see Rubio as a VP pick but Cruz isn't going to be nominated. He's an Iowa throwaway.

[bendejo]

I think one of the money boys paid Santo join the primaries to 'keep the message alive.' I didn't see any enthusiasm, or much effort from him. So much for the back to the Middle Ages contingent of the GOP.

The only people afraid of Rubio are relatives that co-signed his loans.

[Jingthing]

The official end of the political career of that big time bigot Santorum (hot google mess) is really something to celebrate.

[otherstuff1957]

Given that Santorum (a frothy mixture....) was polling about 1% or less I don't think his supporters moving to another candidate are really going to have much of an impact.

Rand Paul got almost 5% of the Iowa vote, so a more interesting question is where will his voters go? I would guess either Establishment (Rubio) or Anti-Establishment/Non-Evangelical (Trump).