Why Rick Santorum would be the best GOP nominee

The reason is simple. President Obama would crush him in a national election. It would be a landslide reminiscent of Johnson over Goldwater in 1964, Nixon over McGovern in 1972 or Reagan over Mondale in 1984.

Rick Santorum

In 1964, Goldwater was painted as right-wing extremist. In 1972 and 1984, the Democratic Party had been taken over by the extreme left wing of the party, much as the Republican Party has been hijacked today by its extreme right wing. When extremists take control, the independents and moderate members of their party desert the cause.

That's when common sense takes over.

Look what happened after Reagan-Mondale. Democratic moderates like Charles Robb and Richard Gephardt began weekly meetings in an attempt to reshape the party. Another person attending those meetings, a fellow by the name of Al From, took the messages gleaned from those get-togethers to form the Democratic Leadership Council, the base from which Bill Clinton launched his successful presidential bid. It should be noted that the centrist Clinton was the first Democrat to be re-elected President since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Today, the Republican Party is concentrated too much on social issues and not enough on pocketbook issues, more interested in contraception than jobs. Santorum is the poster boy for this extreme wing. Should he be the nominee and get swamped in the general election, as he surely would, perhaps moderate Republicans, who are now being driven from their party (Olympia Snowe, Christine Todd Whitman, Lincoln Chafee), would recapture control of the party, much like the Democratic Leadership Council recaptured the Democratic party. If the more moderate Mitt Romney is the nominee and lose the general election, as he surely would, the fringe would say "You see! We need a much more conservative candidate."

That's why Republicans should prey that Santorum is their nominee this year. It's their only hope for eventual recovery.