HEATHER WILSON TERRIFIC, SANTORUM SCUMBAG

NOTE: TODAY (WEDNESDAY) I'LL WRITE MORE THIS AFTERNOON ABOUT HEATHER WILSON, WHO WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT CHOICE FOR V-P ON THE REPUBLICAN TICKET, AND WILL DISCUSS YESTERDAY'S "BIG LOSERS," WHICH TURNED OUT TO THE MOTLEY CREW OF RIGHT-WING TALK RADIO "HOSTS." IF PEOPLE LIKE RUSH LIMBAUGH AND ANN COULTER DO END UP SUPPORTING HILLARY CLINTON, THAT WOULD BE GREAT NEWS FOR THE "NEW" REPUBLICAN PARTY, ONE THAT WON'T HAVE A SPACE FOR THE HATERS OF THE WORLD.

Wednesday comments on what happened yesterday (Super Tuesday): "The big losers last night were the talk-radio hosts." (One McCain advisor)

I think the California poll showing Romney ahead in California must have been a premature April Fool's joke. It is time for "Team Romney," as Hugh Hewitt likes to call them, to fold its tent. There are significant realignmnets going on in the country generally and the Republican Party specifically. The traditional Republicans, the ones I grew up with in upstate New York, have reappeared, much to the amazement of many conservatives and libertarians. Most Americans -- the vast majority -- are moderates, although they usually don't play a leading role in primaries, which tend to attract the far-right or far-left. In Florida and California, roughly half the Republicans voting identified themselves as pro-choice -- the same was roughly true in NY, NJ, and CT. However, most of those people voted for McCain, who is solidly pro-life. Go figure. I believe McCain will attempt to unify the Party, but he won't -- and shouldn't -- go around with a beggar's bowl. He should keep his distance from Hewitt, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, and Hewitt. He doesn't really need them.


NOTE: TODAY (SUPER TUESDAY) I HAVE A NEW COLUMN ABOUT FORMER SEN. RICK SANTORUM, WHO'S RECENTLY EMERGED FROM PA'S POLITICAL TRASH DUMP TO MAKE ANTI-MCCAIN ROBOCALLS FOR ROMNEY. SANTORUM IS JUST BARELY AN EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING, SOMEONE WHO ALMOST SINGHANDEDLY WRECKED THE GOP IN PA. WEAR YOUR HELMET, RICK. The Santorum column will appear BELOW this one on the merits of choosing Heathr Wilson for the vice-presidential slot on the Republican ticket. I HOPE YOU'LL CONTINUE TO VISIT THIS BLOG OFTEN THROUGHOUT THE ELECTION. THERE'S A BATTLE GOING ON FOR THE HEART AND SOUL OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND MY BLOG IS GOING TO PLAY A CENTRAL ROLE IN THAT STRUGGLE.

After I suggested possible V-P choices (for McCain) as Michael Steele of MD and Congresswoman Heather Wilson of New Mexico, I got the following response from a Capitol Hill type:

"I'm certainly not opposed to a black or woman as VP but they do need to be ready to be VP and thus President. I'm not trying to be disrespectfu because I like Michael Steele but his highest elected office is Lt. Gov. I'm not comfortable with a one term Lt. Gov being VP and the media would rip him as not being ready for such high office. As far as Heather Wilson, I had never heard of her until I arrived on Capitol Hill and while she seems to be a good Congresswoman she doesn't jump out to me as VP material. A weakness of the GOP is we are weak with women and minorities and a direct result of this weakness is the GOP doesn't have as many women and minority elected officials. This is a weakness I do believe that McCain can and will help us with."


The following is my response:

In an age when Barack Obama, lately an Illinois State Senator, is seen as a credible candidate for President, Michael Steele looks pretty good. As for Heather Wilson, I believe the only female veteran ever elected to Congress, she's a graduate of the Air Force Academy. a Rhodes Scholar, and a widely acknowledge expert on foreign affairs, particularly in the MidEast. She was perhaps the most-targeted candidate by the Democrats, but she won twice against Hispanic opponents in a district (NM, 1st) that's 43% Hispanic. Her career in the military, in foreign affairs, and in Congress is a lot more impressive than that of, say, Hillary Clinton. She is a ferocious campaigner. She goes for the jugular but is NOT a dirty player.

Right now, if I could give one name to John McCain it probably would be Heather Wilson. Frankly, we will always be weak with women and minorities if we don't look for people in both categories who can meet a challenge. Right now, many Americans look at Republicans as the Party of, by, and for older white people (i.e., people like me). We have to end that half-true stereotype SOON.

We Republicans, to our detriment, demand a lot more "experience" (i.e., age) than the Democrats do. This has been true since 1960 when the "too young" Kennedy defeated Nixon. Like Claude Rains, we "round up the usual suspects." We need to take a different approach.

RICK SANTORUM, A LOSER AS A PERSON AND A POLITICIAN


In the summer of 2006, Republican Rick Santorum was running behind Democrat Bob Casey by a margin of 60% to 40%. But Santorum apparently had a hole card: the fact that he was raising more money -- mostly from PACs -- than any other candidate for the Senate. Eventually, he would end up with a huge sum, $27 million. (You can read about this on OpenSecrets.org. Just go there and type in the name "Santorum.")

So, what eventually happened with Santorum? On Election Day, 2006, he ended up losing to Casey by 59% to 41%. He spent $27 million, and apparently all that money bought him an increase of one percentage point.

This is the Rick Santorum who is sending out a million robocalls denouncing John McCain for having a bad "termperament." That's priceless, because Santorum was one of the most arrogant, ill-tempered, cynical people ever to serve in the Senate. It's the same Santorum who "begged" (McCain's word) Senator McCain and Mayor Giuliani to come to Pennsylvania to campaign for him in 2006. They both showed up and worked hard, but Santorum had alienated so many voters that Ronald Reagan and Abrahma Lincoln couldn't have saved him.

Santorum was at the top of the Republican ticket in Pennsylvania and his abysmal performance helped drag down at least two Republican congressional candidates. One of them was Melissa Hart, my congresswoman, whose opponent (Jason Altmire) ran constant messages trying to link Melissa with Santorum. Another Republican congressman who lost mainly because Santorum was so weak and disliked was Fitzpatrick in the eastern part of the state. He lost by fewer than 1,000 votes. Melissa went down by 52% to 48%.

Santorum lost so badly because he was strongly rejected by Democrats, Independents, Blacks, women professionals, younger voters, and even traditionally Republican suburbanites. This self-styled super-conservative ended up running ads talking about how closely he had worked with . . . Hillary Clinton. His ads mainly tried to bring across the point that he actually was a "good guy." However, the voters who knew him best didn't believe a word he said.

Santorum had orginally won a seat in Congress 20 years ago mainly by accusing his Democratic opponent (Doug Walgren) of not living in Pennsylvania. However, relatively soon after Santorum went to Washington, DC, he brought his family with him. In the following years, he claimed to have a residence in suburban Pittsburgh, but he never lived there. He did, however, bill the district (Penn Hills) for $100,000 for a year's worth of "cyber school" for his six children. For obvious reasons, the district balked at paying such a huge sum.

Santorum also wrote a book suggesting that working mothers should stay home with their children -- as his own wife has done. Of course, that meant the huge number of working women in PA had no interest in voting for him.

McCain and Giuliani tried to save him, but Santorum was beyond salvation. He tried to purchase their affection with his vast campaign war chest, but the voters weren't buying.

This is the same Rick Santorum that's now attempting to tell the nation how to vote. I doubt that anyone is listening to him anymore. He exemplifies everything that's wrong with American politics.