Wednesday Night's Debate Will Be Grand Theatre

msnbc.msn.com

Rick Santorum will take center stage for Wednesday Night's Republican Party Debate flanked by Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.  It will be a new experience for him being front and center as the frontrunner.  Santorum will do everything he can to maintain his center and frontrunner position.  Count on the other three candidates to do everything they can to derail Santorum and have him cast out of the center spot.  Strategies are being developed and certainly practices by each candidate trying to unseat Santorum. 

For Santorum, the center spot casts a whole new shadow on his candidacy.  The other three candidates will be taking pot shots and piling on whenever possible.  At the same time, Romney's new position on stage will be new to him.  One has to wonder if he will be more comfortable in the number two spot.  Which of these men will find their new positioning to be the most fun for them?

Newt Gingrich will be striving for a stellar performance to help reignite his campaign fires which have quieted significantly since his loss in Florida to Romney.  Look for Newt to respond to some of the social, ideological issues that Santorum has embraced over the last few weeks.  Look for Ron Paul to dismiss the social and ideological issues and encourage more debate on deficit reduction.  Look for Mitt Romney to go aggressive and attack Santorum on his record as a United States Senator.

Santorum will focus much of his attention and criticism on President Obama.  Both Romney and Gingrich will tee-off on Santorum for his voting record.  For the most part, it will be a one-two punch that Santorum hasn't experienced yet on stage.  No longer the third wheel, Santorum will definitely be engaged in this debate.  It will be interesting to see how he is able to withstand the attacks.  The President will become more of an afterthought to Romney and Gingrich but they will pile on when it plays well to the crowd.

Santorum's focus on social and ideological issues of late will certainly encourage the moderator to go after some very specific questions.  The big one where he must be prepared is his stance on women issues including contraception and women in front line battle positions.  Not perceived as a women's champion, he should expect some very pointed questions regarding his attitudes toward women.  Dangerous ground for sure and certainly an area where Mitt Romney would like to see Santorum falter.

The last debate before the Michigan and Arizona primaries is critical to each of the candidates.  Santorum wants to strengthen his lead.  Romney wants to stop the bleeding.  Gingrich wants to get back on the map.  Ron Paul just wants to be considered part of the equation.  Look for Wednesday Night's debate to be great political theatre. 

  

The Moral High Ground Of Rick Santorum, Cultural Warrior

thehuffingtonpost.com

The Republican Party's new frontrunner, Rick Santorum, is choosing to go down the path of cultural warrior with a stump speech of ideological rhetoric.  His appearances throughout Ohio and Michigan have focused almost entirely on social and religious issues.  Focusing much of his rhetoric on President Obama referring to him as a radical environmentalist to an elitist.  Calling the President's brand of Christianity, "phony theology" and not "based on the bible", Santorum is drawing a sharp contrast between himself and the President as well as his opponent, Mitt Romney. 

Santorum has taken advantage of the recent contraceptive issue embracing it as part of his ideological messaging to his loyal conservative followers.  Santorum points to President Obama as "trampling on a constitutional right" requiring hospitals and institutions to provide co-pay-free contraception.  "It is imposing his ideology on a group of people expressing their theology, their moral code, and saying the government will force you to do what you faith says is gravely wrong." 

He speaks of Obama trying to "cull the ranks of the disabled" by requiring prenatal screenings.  His reference is that the Affordable Health Care Act requires that insurance companies cover prenatal screenings which Santorum believes lead to more abortions.  Santorum says the President has done this, "Because it saves money in health care.  Why?  Because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and therefore less care that has be done." 

Santorum pronounced that the President's agenda is, "not about you.  It's about your quality of life.  It's not about your jobs.  It's about some phony ideal.  Some phony theology.  Oh, not a theology based on the Bible.  A different theology."  Santorum says that Obama's values run against those of Christianity.  "His is imposing his values on the Christian church.  He can categorize those values anyway he wants."  In the same breath, Santorum says, "If the president says he's a Christian, he's a Christian."

Choosing to go down the path of cultural warrior by speaking primarily about social and moral issues, Santorum is clearly speaking only to the conservative crowd and voter.  Mitt Romney appears to intentionally be avoiding such issues as much as possible and focusing on the more traditional issues of jobs.  One has to suspect that Wednesday Night's debate will focus on these social issues more significantly and it will be interesting to see how Romney, Paul and Gingrich respond to Santorum's cultural rhetoric. 

One has to believe that this path Santorum has chosen will be an issue for the Republican party should he win the nomination.  The social and moral values Santorum speaks of resonate with the conservative Evangelicals but falls out of bounds for the more moderate Republicans and independents.  It seems unlikely that the Republican party will allow this to continue if Santorum builds more momentum against Romney.  The Republican party may just have to encourage, motivate and challenge one of their more mainstream leaders to step in and challenge Santorum.