Everyone, seemingly, has had the Primary Pop except for one: Rick Santorum. Of all of the candidates in the race now, I would have to say that he has put the most time and work into his candidacy. Not just since Primary “began” in earnest, but for much longer than anyone else in the face (examples here and here, use the new SEARCH for more – it REALLY is fast compared to Grok 1.0!). He may not “deserve” to win the Primary but he has put in the sweat to have “earned” the win. And he’s put in the time in Iowa as well.
Anyways, I saw this over at Hot Air:
Santorum has another problem as a potential boomlet candidate — resources. Rick Perry is making a big play in Iowa with media buys, trying to accomplish exactly what Tomasky predicts will happen for Santorum, and Romney is also flooding the airwaves. Santorum can’t compete with that directly, but he’s hoping that his ground work will trump the ad wars. He might get a side benefit from Perry’s attack on the two frontrunners, though. If Perry undermines support for Gingrich and Romney but doesn’t make the sale that he’s a reliable, competent alternative, voters who have seen a lot of Santorum might give the real underdog some extra consideration.
If the ground game can make it over a vast air war (e.g., Romney and Paul are spending like drunken sailors), it would be in Iowa and New Hampshire where the retail politics matter still. And having known him for a number of years now, one of his senior aides is New Hampshire based Mike Biundo who is known for working that ground angle. If Santorum has a shot at it, he’s got one of the better ones at it by his side. Yes, the big endorsement “gets” that went Santorum’s way have helped a lot where social conservatives play a much larger role than here in NH, and momentum does help but if you have any inklings that you may vote for Santorum here in NH, you might want to keep Biundo’s name in mind as perhaps being part of that Iowa outcome