Rick Santorum

Welp - now that the Iowa Caucuses have blown over, let's talk Rick Santorum!

Just in case you didn't get the memo, he lost to Romney by a mere 8 votes. Yes, eight! Of course, he was definitely the most committed candidate when it came to Iowa, having visited and spoken at each of the 100+ counties in the state. But who honestly, truly thinks he can put up a real fight against Mitt Romney? I wonder whether or not he believes that he really can...

Michele's out, Rick's on the fringe, and Cain is looooong gone. But what gives? Why do these candidates come and go without so much as a real fight? Here's what I think:

Mitt's a "Massachusetts moderate" - as Gingrich put it. And although he will, beyond a reasonable doubt, become the GOP nominee, other candidates have the ability to rouse and influence voters when it comes to particular issues. What I'm saying is this: the longer Rick Santorum stays in the race and fights for "conservative, family values", and the longer he maintains a sizable support base to back his message, the further he can push his family-values/anti-gay agenda. If he ends up a close second to Romney in the end, having fought tooth-and-nail on issues including marriage, abortion, and gay rights, he will inevitably force Romney to adopt (to some degree) Rick's conservative positions in order to win his supporters over.

If Romney really wants Santorum's supporters to support him on election day, he'll have to preach anti-gay, pro-marriage sentiments to the masses. If Mitt wants Perry's supports, he'll have to dumb things down and preach common sense in his speech-giving. If he wants control of Bachmann's base, he'll have to go out swinging hard against Obamacare. And if he wants Gingrich's fan base, then he'll have to -- er, wait...what exactly does Newt stand for, anyway?