Democrats for Santorum in Michigan Primary Flopped

Mitt Romney won the Michigan and Arizona primaries Tuesday night. Arizona was a blowout - he won by twenty points over Santorum, but in Michigan, many thought Santorum had a real chance to score big and win that state. It would have been a real blow to the Romney campaign. That didn't happen.

Why? The Michigan victory for Santorum didn't happen because Rick Santorum is not a good candidate. He is not a disciplined candidate. He cannot stay on point and he tends to go where he need not - especially on the social hot button issues and on issues as innocent as college education aspirations. No one likes sanctimonious Rick and no one likes Santorum off message.

While Santorum is fond of chastising Romney as one who has changed opinions in politics, it is now evident that Santorum has a bit of a problem with that, too. Just weeks after proclaiming that he is a firm believer in political primary purity he participated in a robocall to voters in Michigan encouraging Democrats to go vote in the Republican primary for him - to deny Romney a win.

Really bad form.

This is the robo-call paid for and supported by the Santorum for President campaign:



Fortunately for Team Romney, the ploy backfired. Romney won the primary by more than 3%. As Romney said, not a big win, but enough.

Santorum is at his best when he is delivering his personal story and why he is seeking elected office. His is the story of a coal miner's grandson. It is an only in America story and he misses opportunity after opportunity to deliver that message. Instead he is bogged down trying to be the moral conscience of America and also delivering silly lines about such common ground issues like college education. Parents everywhere aspire for their children to have the opportunity to go to college, to be exposed to higher education. To declare that goal as something "snobby" is simply silly. And, it turns people off to his message.

All of the candidates need more than niche voters. Santorum needs more than social conservatives to win primaries. He has to focus on a winning stump speech and repeat it over and over. He has to find discipline and a winning message.