It's simple - Santorum doesn't want to be president. He wants to rake in the big bucks [View all]
And being a failed senator who lost by 18 points his last election doesn't exactly make him hot on the Lecture Circuit or NYT Best Seller list.
Santorum knows that he'll walk out of this primary season with the ability to write his own ticket for how much he can make on the lecture circuit hawking books and rallying up the crazies to the right wing. A year ago he was nothing more than a big loser who not only lost his 2006 election to Bob Casey Jr but he lost uber big time (close to 18 points). Big losers get little money in the lecture circuit nor are they offered big book deals.
So the guy runs a longshot for presidency by catering to extreme religious fanatics. And he hit jackpot because no one likes Mitt and every right-wing crackpot before him ending up sinking their own campaign (Bachmann, Perry, Cain and Gingrich). With the field narrowed down to just 4, Santorum is in prime position to turn his loser image around. But the proof he doesn't want to win the presidency is simple - after each time he does win a state, his rhetoric becomes crazier and crazier. Now he's invoking speeches by JFK that caused Rick to hurl because they discussed separation of Church & State. Really? Or are you just running out of shock material.
I've watched Rick Santorum campaigns before especially his 2000 re-election when he should have been easy pickings but instead edged out a slim victory over a poorly funded democratic candidate. During the weeks leading up to the election, RIck moved himself into the middle of the political spectrum making himself look like a moderate. To the voting clueless, he seemed like a decent guy. Santorum has always run as a moderate because he knew that extremism doesn't play well in Pennsylvania. So the fact that Santorum is running as an extremist, at least to me, says he doesn't want to be President. He just wants that mega book deal waiting for him the moment he drops out of the primary race.