Let's be sane about this. Mitt Rmoney will be the Republican nominee. No challenger lasts more than a few weeks.

Santorum’s Surge Holds Steady So Far
By NATE SILVER
Ten days after Rick Santorum’s surprisingly strong wins in the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses, there is no sign yet that his surge in the polls is abating.
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Nevertheless, Mr. Santorum’s bounce has already had considerably more staying power than those of some of his rivals. Newt Gingrich’s surge in the national polls, for instance, peaked just 24 or 48 hours after his victory in South Carolina, whereas Mr. Santorum’s has now persisted for more than a week.

Indeed, Mr. Santorum may be benefiting from the continued decline in Mr. Gingrich’s numbers. Recent polls have suggested that more of Mr. Gingrich’s supporters were winding up in Mr. Santorum’s column, which may be helping to offset any gains that Mr. Romney is making because of advertising.

haha me too We used to have Foster Freezes all over the place where I lived

For those who don't believe Santorum could possibly be the Republican nominee, I suggest you read about the 1964 Republican primary season. That one also had several big name Republicans fall by the wayside. It ended differently from what many predicted in February 1964.

The Republican Party was divided in 1964 between its conservative and moderate-liberal factions. Former Vice-President Richard Nixon, who had been beaten by Kennedy in the extremely close 1960 presidential election (subsequently losing the 1962 election for Governor of California) decided not to run. Nixon, a moderate with ties to both wings of the GOP, had been able to unite the factions in 1960; in his absence the way was clear for the two factions to engage in an all-out political civil war for the nomination. Barry Goldwater, a Senator from Arizona, was the champion of the conservatives. The conservatives had historically been based in the American Midwest, but beginning in the 1950s the conservatives had been gaining in power in the South and West. The conservatives favored a low-tax, small federal government which supported individual rights and business interests and opposed social welfare programs. The conservatives also resented the dominance of the GOP's moderate wing, which was based in the Northeastern United States. Since 1928 the Eastern moderates had successfully defeated conservative presidential candidates at the GOP's national conventions. The conservatives believed the Eastern moderates were little different from liberal Democrats in their philosophy and approach to government. Goldwater's chief opponent for the Republican nomination was Nelson Rockefeller, the Governor of New York and the longtime leader of the GOP's liberal-moderate faction. When Rockefeller was knocked out of the race by Goldwater, the party's moderates and liberals turned to William Scranton, the Governor of Pennsylvania, in the hopes that he could stop Goldwater.

When Rockefeller was knocked out of the race by Goldwater, the party's moderates and liberals turned to William Scranton, the Governor of Pennsylvania, in the hopes that he could stop Goldwater.

There is reason to fear a Santorum nomination and reason not to count on a Goldwater debacle.

There is reason to fear a Santorum nomination and reason not to count on a Goldwater debacle.

I think every good Christian should kick [Jerry] Falwell right in the ass.

...Don't confuse Barry Goldwater with any of todays social conservatives. Goldwater was a fiscal conservative and closer to todays libertarians than todays social conservatives. He despised the religous right commandeering the Republican party.

It will be very interesting to see what happens in Washington County, Maine today.

Ron Paul scores win in Hancock, Washington County voting as state nears end of GOP caucuses

Texas Congress Ron Paul was the top choice in a presidential nominee preference poll conducted by registered Republican voters here as Maine winds up its controversial GOP caucuses.

Paul attracted 41 votes, more than twice the votes for Mitt Romney, who had 16. Rick Santorum attracted 17 votes, while Newt Gingrich finished last with 9.

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Hancock County Republican Committee Chairman Eric White assured caucus-goers that their presidential preference poll votes would be tallied when the GOP State Committee resolves the controversial process of counting votes from throughout the state. “My job is to make sure every vote gets counted,” White said. “We’re going to be included.”

Maine Senate President Kevin Raye, a Republican, said Friday that Washington County’s results would be included in the final tally for the poll, but that the Republican State Committee will have to vote at its March 10 meeting whether to include results from other towns that voluntarily chose to hold their caucuses after Feb. 11.

Rick Santorum In 2008: Mainstream Protestantism Fell Out Of 'World Of Christianity'
As far as Rick Santorum is concerned, mainstream Protestantism "is gone from the world of Christianity." That's what he told students at Florida's Ave Maria University, founded by Domino's Pizza mogul Tom Monaghan, during a 2008 lecture.

The clip was unearthed by People for the American Way and played on Saturday's "Up With Chris Hayes" on MSNBC.

I really have to disagree that elevating Santorum to nominee is bad for us. Sorry, but IMO Obama would destroy him. He has no debate skills, little if any base overall, and his views will turn the majority off, including most women. I'm not scared of Santorum in the least, and don't get why anyone else would be.

Santorum^{Google It} would be slaughtered in the general election and that would lead to a split in the Party. But, as I've said before, let's be sane. Rmoney will be the nominee. And that, too, should lead to a splintering.

People on TV a night or two ago were talking about that Santorum Romney-as-gunslinger ad, and someone pointed to the fact that Santorum is associating himself with a visual of a spurting brown, viscous liquid.

Is someone really, really dumb or really, really evil?

New polling by Public Policy Polling has for the first time a GOP candidate other than Mitt Romney faring better in a hypothetical matchup with Barack Obama.

Rick Santorum, riding the wave of a string of victories in Republican presidential contests last week, has for now the mantle of “most electable” Republican candidate, according to numbers released by PPP on Tuesday.

Santorum trails Obama in a head-to-head matchup 49 percent to 44 percent. Romney, long perceived to be the most electable GOP contender, trails Obama 49 percent to 42 percent.

I really have to disagree that elevating Santorum to nominee is bad for us. Sorry, but IMO Obama would destroy him. He has no debate skills, little if any base overall, and his views will turn the majority off, including most women. I'm not scared of Santorum in the least, and don't get why anyone else would be.

I mean, the latest - he thinks the entire Protestant faith is not Christian. Yeh, that'll get votes.

Rick Santorum is a religious ideologue. He wants to turn the US into a "faith-based" Christian country through the imposition of those "family values" he personally has decided are God-given. He believes that America’s founding fathers would agree because they were, supposedly, men of faith just like him. Quoting the Declaration of Independence to prove this point, Santorum reminds us that it says that people "are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights". From this he concludes that rights come from God and not from government. Government’s role is simply to implement and protect those divine rights.

The truth is that the man who penned the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson, was nothing like Rick Santorum. He wasn’t even a Christian. He was a Deist. Jefferson’s phrasing was meant to impress a wider world in an age when religion was interpreted in a more literal fashion than it is in today’s United States. Jefferson certainly did not mean for Americans to take the notion of God-given inalienable rights literally. After all, he was a slave holder.

The number of Americans who respond positively to Rick Santorum’s message is probably in the range of 20 per cent. In terms of the Republican Party, they probably represent about one-third of the membership. Being ideologically driven, these people are motivated to vote. And, that is significant in a nation where voting turnout is traditionally low. So, Rick Santorum is certainly representative of a politically active part of the US population – a dangerous, intolerant, noisy, in-your-face part. If we let him and his followers get their way, the result will be ever greater divisiveness and decline at home, and war abroad. That is a choice for the rest of us.