So Santorum up and left, taking with him the last vestiges of interest in the GOP primary. But the fundamental problem Santorum exposed inside the GOP hasn't been resolved – the party is still primed for a savior, not a candidate.
Despite Santorum's very "Washington" background, he somehow became the hope for Republicans fed up with Romney's perceived moderation. The reason is Santorum's perfect dogmatism: he has a consistent record (with only minor heresies) of taking the most hardline conservative position both in speech and in deed. No one, as often stated during the campaign, doubted the sincerity of his positions. And unlike the other competitors for the "most conservative" belt over the course of the cycle – Bachmann, Cain, and Perry – he managed to sustain his surge by failing to implode as spectacularly either of these people. He was, in short, the only consistent, solid hard-right champion in the race.
But no more than solid.
Santorum was uninspiring and perpetually underfunded, unable to persuade almost anyone that he was a serious candidate until the structural barriers to victory were nearly insurmountable. And yet, he still managed to get a bunch of Republicans – particularly evangelicals, judging by election returns – to join Team Rick.
This wasn't, as Jon Chait puts it, "entirely the function of his being a Republican not named Romney," – otherwise, why Santorum and not Gingrich? Understanding Santorum's success as a consequence of ideological appeal beyond the "warm body" factor best explains his consistently high favorability ratings among Republicans.
This interpretation suggests that a conservative firebreather need not flame out a la Bachmann. His campaign is proof of concept for the theory that one can both be a demonstrably committed rightist and make a serious bid for the GOP nomination for the White House.
The obvious conclusion is that, assuming Romney loses in 2012, the candidate best positioned to win the GOP nod next time around will be someone with Santorum-esque views with an extra dollop of political talent. There's no necessary reason that someone with hard-right views has to have weak electoral skills, and Santorum's shifted the Overton Window enough that someone like him can't be disregarded out of course in 2016. That's when we'll see how this ends.
(Photo: Surrounded by members of his family, Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum announces he will be suspending his campaign during a press conference at the Gettysburg Hotel on April 10, 2012 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Santorum's three-year-old daughter, Bella, became ill over the Easter holiday and poll numbers showed he was losing to Mitt Romney in his home state of Pennsylvania. By Jeff Swensen/Getty Images.)
The Dish 
