The Legacy of a Missionary Zealot

Rick Santorum’s candidacy for president hasn’t for some time now had much chance of success. But his persistence has succeeded in damaging considerably his rival and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, driving him further to the right than Romney probably would have preferred.

Mathematically, it’s been apparent for some time that Rick Santorum has had no chance of capturing his party’s nomination for the presidency. Mitt Romney’s campaign apparatus was clearly superior, allowing him to amass double Santorum’s number of delegates toward nomination.

But the missionary zealot also never had a chance ideologically. The latest primary results made clear the fact that Santorum’s arch-conservative positions weren’t popular even among Republicans. Now he has taken the logical step of making way for Romney as the party’s choice.

Santorum’s only chances rested in the Midwest and deep South. In states like Ohio and Michigan, he came uncomfortably close to Romney but was not able to power through to victory. Even in his own home state of Pennsylvania, Santorum watched as his early lead melted away over the last two weeks.

The hot-headed Santorum accomplished two things by hanging on for so long: First, he did Romney considerable damage by providing valuable ammunition to the Democrats. This Santorum did deliberately — he obviously despises Romney as a political opportunist with every fiber of his being.

Plus, in the drive to win approval from the party’s conservative base, he drove his opponent much further to the right than Romney wanted to go. Santorum is now established among conservative Republicans as the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. As such, he will not hesitate to publicly chastise Romney if he ever happens to stray too far from the righteous path of virtue.