I've been trying to remember what it was that lead to Santorum's big loss in 2006 in his re-election bid. I thought he was involved somewhat in Tom Delay's K Street Project, in which Jack Abramof was involved as well, but I wasn't sure of the details. Now, Will Bunch revisits all the scandals in Santorum's past, and it's starting to come back to me. I remember being somewhat indignant that he had his family living in a big house in West Virginia while still a Senator for Pennsylvania. I would have voted against him too. The piece is worth reading. If Bob Vander Plaats had done some research into these claims, Santorum might not have had his Iowa surge. Or maybe the Evangelicals did know all this but finally decided that he was their last hope to stop Mitt Romney, which seemed more important than his honesty and ethics. Politico's take on the 2006 loss. Santorum looks young, fresh and wholesome, but he helped give the GOP a reputation for slippery methods at the same time when Tom Delay was hurting it as well and made the party ripe for defeat in 2006, which lead to the disastrous loss of the White House as well. Now they have a squeaky clean candidate but the tea party is calling him a liar, a liberal, a socialist and so on. Most people look at Romney and see a conservative with a charisma deficit, but the more you learn about him, the more he looks like the guy we need to resolve the overspending problems of the federal government.

I found this interview of Anne and Mitt Romney by Laura Ingraham interesting, especially his statement that he has become more conservative since he called himself moderate and progressive. Some call that a flip=flop, but others might consider it growth.

John Podhoretz:

The three-way victory in the Iowa caucuses last night reveals just what a catastrophe for the Republican Party the Year of 16 Debates was. The relentless televised clashes of 2011 gave ridiculous heft to the freak candidacies of Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich — to the detriment of the party’s standing in its long-term struggle to defeat Barack Obama.

I agree that the debates were hugely wasteful and unproductive, but the real damage was done by the defamation of Mitt Romney by his own party. The incredible hatred expressed towards him and the determination to prevent him from being nominated, despite the others' failure to raise funds and build grassroots organizations, lead these Anybody-but-Romney crazies to run from one candidate to another hoping to find a messiah. None of the others made the grade and it just so happened that Santorum turn to surge came just as the caucuses began. He hasn't been scrutinized by the media or the competition. He has no money or organization and the money coming in now may be too late to buy ads in saturated markets, but never mind. He's been boosted to the top tier by the votes in an arcane system that doesn't even produce any binding electoral votes. The only sane ones in this nonsense may have been Gary Johnson who dropped out to run as a Libertarian and Jon Huntsman, who skipped Iowa entirely.

If Newt Gingrich is a real conservative I think we need tighter standards to define the category. Charles Krauthammer called him "Ahab on the loose," this afternoon after his vow to help Santorum destroy "the great white Mitt." Meanwhile, fun guy George Will pronounces Santorum a "fun candidate."

Jay Cost parses the Iowa returns

Krauthammer: Santorum Has 1 In 50 Chance; Ron Paul Has Zero Chance National Journal: Iowa Reaffirms Romney as Odds-on Favorite

What establishment? Good question for pouting conservatives.

Kimberly Strassel gives Romney faint praise as "Mr. Good Enough." He's been so demonized by conservatives mostly in a whispering and blogging campaign calling him unprincipled, dishonest, and worst the author of Obamacare, that I wondered if he could stay among the leaders. In the end, after others have risen and fallen in succession with Santorum finally getting his surge in the last several days. I've been a loyal supporter, because I value competence more than charisma and bravado. The main endorsement that mattered most to me was that of Rep. John Campbell of California's 48th District. Himself a CPA and a businessman, he sees the value of Mitt's skill set in our current debt and spending crisis. Those who claim to care about conservative values most have been some of the most vicious in denouncing Romney as a liberal, a socialist, a liar, and so on. He's probably the best expert we could hire to bring our finances into balance and reorganize our dysfunctional government, but as so often happens, he'll do it over the objections of the deluded.

Bill Kristol:

As this is no time for voters to choose fecklessly, it is no time for leaders to duck responsibility. Those who have stood aside—and who now may have concluded, as they may not have when they announced their original decision, that the current field is lacking—will surely hear the words of Thomas Paine echoing down the centuries: “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” Now is not a time for leaders to engage in clever calculations of the odds of success, or to succumb to concerns about how they will look if they enter the fray and fall short. Now is a time to come to the aid of our country.

This is why I support Mitt Romney.