Coming off a three-state win in the GOP race for the presidential nomination, Rick Santorum campaigned hard to get Michigan's vote. Click here to follow his trail through the state as he vies for the delegates.
Bizarre. Leader. Loser. Down to Earth. Woman hater. Those are just a few adjectives that voters used to describe Rick Santorum during the Michigan primaries.
This state has been touted as an important one for the GOP candidates, but how do the people actually casting the ballots see Santorum and his opponents? From professors to ministers to former politicians, the opinions cover a wide spread but still seem to accurately reflect why Santorum is where he is right now.
Science speaks
Professor Paul Abramson teaches political science at Michigan State University and has studied the topic for more than 40 years. In early February, he predicted that Santorum would win Michigan over Mitt Romney. But as Election Day approached, he changed his mind.
Just by looking at his track record, Santorum lost his senate seat in 2006 to challenger Bob Casey, a Democrat. Not only did he lose, he lost badly by the largest margin of any Pennsylvania incumbent since 1980.
“Even if you grant he was running against a popular Democrat in a state that tilts Democrat and in a year that was favorable for Democrats, for an incumbent to lose by 17 percentage points is really…” Abramson trails off for a minute. The he said, “I mean, if a party can’t come up with a candidate with better electoral credentials than that, it doesn’t speak very well for the party.”
Abramson also referred to current Ohio attorney general and former senator Mike DeWine’s¬ recent endorsement of Santorum. Until February 17, when DeWine renounced his backing of Romney in exchange for Santorum, not one of Santorum’s former colleagues endorsed his presidential campaign.
“That kind of tells you something,” Abramson said. “These are people who knew him and he’s not getting support from this group.”
Santorum served in Congress for 15 years.
So he can be kind of a loser. Why was Santorum suddenly the one nipping at Romney’s heels in Michigan? Before winning three states in a row, he was fourth and barely hanging on. According to Abramson, Michigan’s absentee ballots could be a reason.
“It’s very easy to cast an absentee ballot in Michigan,” Abramson said. “It’s expected that a fourth of the ballots were already cast before Election Day” and Romney had a substantial lead. “If you counted only those votes that are going to be cast [February 28], Santorum would probably win the election,” he said.
And it’s true. Two days after the primaries, on the “Morning in America” radio show, Santorum said voters had submitted 100,000 ballots in Michigan by the time he won three states at once. He also said that he won “overwhelmingly” among non-absentee voters.
Another reason why it was Santorum versus Romney? He isn’t Romney.
“There are certainly many Republicans who don’t trust Romney or are simply not enthusiastic about Romney,” Abramson said. “Santorum is simply the latest in a long line of people who are non-Romney candidates.”
As for the other two candidates? They just aren’t cutting it.
“Gingrich is running because he has a very wealthy casino owner who is continuing to pump money into his campaign,” Abramson said. He said Gingrich will probably win Georgia but it’d be surprising if he won anything after that.
“And Ron Paul is probably just trying to accumulate delegates to have some kind of impact on the convention,” Abramson said. “To tilt things in a more conservative direction.”
That said, Romney and Santorum are the only two who have a chance of winning the general election.
Personality is everything
While science tells the story of why Santorum was ahead in the polls, the people have different versions to tell.
On one hand, there are the Pat Donlons who support Santorum, not only as a leader but also as a champion for society.
“I think this country’s long overdue to reinstate good social values,” Donlon said. “We’re sliding down a slippery slope and this man is not afraid to voice his inner feelings on that.”
Donlon also identifies with Santorum’s plight as a politician running for office. Donlon ran for Congress in Michigan’s 1st District in 2010 but lost to current Rep. Dan Benishek.
“He’s managed to get off the ground here without a big war chest. That is a phenomenal feat,” Donlon said. “I used most of my own money and I know he did when he was first getting started… but without money you’re not going to be able to go anywhere in politics.”
Another politician, Fred Karger who is one of Santorum’s lesser-known opponents in the presidential race, commented that while he’s a down to Earth, decent guy, he doesn’t agree with him.
“His positions and his comments are completely uncalled for and so hurtful,” Karger said.
Cecile Pierce, co-founder of the interfaith Light House Chapel in Lansing, thinks Santorum, as well as the other candidates, have “gone off the edge of a cliff.”
“This man is woman hater and he’s obviously got some real sexual hang-ups, I believe,” Pierce said. “The idea that he thinks that the government has to control everybody’s sexuality, particularly women’s, I don’t find Christian at all.”
She said Santorum hardly represents the American majority and his stances on the issues, particularly birth control and gay rights, are bizarre.
“I guess we have to wait for that generation I’m a part of to die before we truly get over this nonsense,” Pierce said.
Jessica Torrez, a professor of language, culture and civic engagement at MSU, said she’s just observing this circus of a race.
“They’ve done everything from saying the most ridiculous things to having really questionable family values to completely contradicting themselves and so at this point there’s no shock left,” Torrez said.
She said the Republican’s antics in Michigan have desensitized the voters and at this point, it’s come down to finding the candidate who is “furthest from Obama.”
Santorum in the rest of the race
Santorum seems to reach voters either in one extreme or the other: he’s crazy conservative and out of touch with what Americans think and feel or he’s saving America from itself. Somehow, it seems to make sense that he’s surging up and down in the polls.
As for Michigan’s opinion, the state didn’t quite approve and chose Romney instead. But one thing that’s clear is Santorum is reaching people. They may not all be voting for him, or voting at all for that matter, but they see him. And they all have something to say about it.