It's interesting to see Rick Santorum moving up in the polls for the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. It just might be that he has developed some momentum at a crucial point in this volatile race and could turn out to be the choice of anyone-but-Romney Republicans. Hard to say, of course, but momentum is everything in a close and rapidly changing race.Flying under the radar, Santorum has so far avoided PAC-funded attack ads, which seem to have damaged the candidacy of fellow conservative Catholic Newt Gingrich (who is closely allied with Citizens United, which won the Supreme Court ruling that made the "super PACs" more powerful).According to The New York Times, Santorum has held 358 events in Iowa. Could that possibly turn out to be worth something more than spending millions of dollars in PAC money on TV attack ads?Just asking.

Paul Moses is the author, most recently, of The Italian Squad: The True Story of the Immigrant Cops Who Fought the Rise of the Mafia (NYU Press, 2023). He is a contributing writer. Twitter: @PaulBMoses.

Also by this author
© 2024 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five. Site by Deck Fifty.