Main Street Journal: Online Exclusive: Ed “Doc” Holliday: Is Rick Santorum the Tea Party’s Last Stand?

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Is Rick Santorum the Tea Party’s Last Stand?
By: Ed “Doc” Holliday

The Tea Party galvanized citizens from all over the nation in 2010 and flipped the U.S. House of Representatives from Democratic control to Republican control. With a show of strength using the new Republican House freshmen, the Tea Party was accused last summer of changing the way that business is done in budgeting by the Establishment in both parties. But has the Tea Party run its course in influencing who will represent the Republican Party in the race for the White House in 2012? South Carolina’s Republican primary could well be the Tea Party’s last stand in being able to influence the Republican Party to be more conservative.

With Mitt Romney’s wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, many political pundits are already saying that the nomination is Romney’s. President Obama’s re-election team is already shaping his campaign to run against the former governor of Massachusetts. That the majority of the Tea Party does not want Mitt Romney to be the Republican nominee is no secret. The reasons are many but include his flip-flops on several issues that he had to make to get elected in liberal Massachusetts. Now he tells the Tea Party that he takes the conservative position. The flip-flopping reminds many in the Tea Party of the Democrat’s 2004 candidate, Sen. John Kerry. Romney’s moderate positions make him cozy to the mainstream media also.

I spoke with Governor Romney when I was at the CNN/Tea Party Express Republican Presidential debate in Tampa on September 12. There was evidence from the Tea Party leaders—who had come from around the nation for the debate—that Romney was not a candidate they wanted to support unless there was no other choice. Romney’s staff took some verbal rejection from some Tea Party supporters at the hotel where both I and Governor Romney stayed. I did not condone the remarks aimed at Romney’s staff but it showed that Romney needed to build bridges to the Tea Party community. I asked him to come on my Internet radio show (Doc Holliday’s Tea Party on Webtalkradio.net) and I am still waiting. If Romney is the eventual nominee he will need the enthusiasm of the Tea Party but he has done little to reach out. His advisors have placed him in blue jeans and dressed him down for the average American but somehow Mitt still does not fit for many in the Tea Party.

After the mobilization of a grassroots movement that spearheaded the removal of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, many in the Tea Party are frustrated in January of 2012. They wonder aloud, “Is this all we have to choose from?” Since birthing a new political movement and making dents in the establishment are we not going to have a seat at the table when it comes to deciding who will carry the conservative banner for the 2012 presidential race? Frustration is an understatement in many tea party groups. Organizers have not wanted to push one candidate over another and the lack of leadership—which kept the mainstream media from demonizing a leader and squashing the movement in its infancy—has lead to the inability to throw support behind one candidate. The Tea Party has failed to flex any muscle in the push for a final choice of a candidate. Over the past six months the Tea Party has been effective in one way: the Tea Party has caused the rise of many rivals to Romney for the front position only to see that candidate fade away after the political heat was applied. Michele Bachmann rose to win the Iowa straw ballot. Rick Perry came riding in as if he was on a big horse but when he began to speak he fell off his horse. Then it was the unsuspected rise of Herman Cain. Herman shot up in the polls as if he were pole vaulting, only to come crashing down as sexual allegations seemed to come from all around. Then it was the former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, who looked as if he would be the last man standing against Mitt. But an avalanche of negative ads seemed to mix with Newt’s baggage from the past to form a political cement that clung to his shoes. Newt sank in the last days before Iowa began to vote.

The momentum turned to Rick Santorum, who had patiently waited and for all practical purposes most pundits wondered why he was still hanging around. But Rick Santorum was politicking the old fashion way all over Iowa. After Iowa’s second place finish, just 8 votes shy of Romney, Santorum could call Iowa a great win. Even though Santorum did not have a strong showing in New Hampshire he has become the last stand for the Tea Party. Not everyone in the Tea Party will admit this—and the Ron Paul tea partiers may shout their disagreement—but conservative radio host Mark Levin said just this week that if he had to vote today it would be for Santorum.

The sand in the glass is running low. Gingrich and Perry are still in the race but their time at the top will not be repeated. That is just a fact. If the Tea Party wants to keep Romney from the Republican nomination and make a statement to the “establishment” there is only one horse to ride now. And that horse is Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum has become the last stand for the Tea Party in trying to place a Reagan conservative in the White House in 2012. Only the tea party can make ground for Santorum by utilizing its grassroots network, already built, to boost Santorum’s small ground game.

Santorum or bust, here comes South Carolina and Florida, then on to Super Tuesday. The Tea Party may not like its choices but neither did the American soldiers trapped on the beach on D-Day. It has come down to this: if the Tea Party wants to influence the nomination they must align behind Santorum or wait for God knows how many years before a Reagan conservative will have an opportunity to take the reins of executive power again. Tough choice but the Tea Party understands the old saying, “When the going gets tough the tough get going.” How powerful is the Tea Party? America can gauge the Tea Party’s strength in about a month from now. If the Republican nomination has not been locked up by Mitt Romney it will be because of the Tea Party.

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