Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The Santorum Subplot

Despite the fact that Mitt Romney won three primaries yesterday and basically has the nomination nailed down, Rick Santorum isn’t giving up on his quest, hoping that a win in Pennsylvania will keep him going.

“When Rick is an underdog, he’s at his best as a candidate,” said Alan Novak, former chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Novak has endorsed Romney but believes Santorum has the edge in the state. “He’s energetic . . . speaks from the heart, and he taps into the feelings of voters.”

Pushed by the tea party movement, the Republican Party in Pennsylvania has grown more conservative since 2006, a shift likely to favor Santorum. His positions remain virtually unchanged from his earlier political life. And loyalty still runs deep for the grandson of a western Pennsylvania coal miner.

Now that there’s no chance he’ll win the nomination — sad, but true — he does fill the valuable role of being the subplot to the sitcom, like the nosy landlord Mr. Furley on Three’s Company or Jack on Will & Grace: an endless source of whacky nonsense to amuse, but not really part of the main plot.