Politics: The Santorum Surge

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Politics The Santorum Surge How his rising poll numbers in Iowa change the race. By David Weigel Posted Thursday, Dec 29, 2011, at 05:14 PM ET CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa—Rick Santorum has been telling you, and telling you, and telling you, and now, finally, you're listening. He paces in front of 60-odd conservatives in a room of the TrueNorth Learning Center, wearing a brown sweater vest, gesticulating, describing how he's been proven right. "People say, well, when are you gonna get your surge?" says Santorum. (Some of the "people" are the reporters in the back of the room; some are the Iowa conservatives who keep doubting him.) "Everybody in this race has had their surge, and their bump. Why haven't you had it? I say, I'm gonna get mine the old fashioned way. Actual people who know the candidates coming on board and helping us. Not some media creation. Not some clever line. But actually folks who are taking their time to look at the records, to look at the vision, to look at the character, to look at the courage." Santorum has been saying this all year. It stopped sounding ridiculous on Wednesday. A CNN/Time/ORC poll taken before and after Christmas showed Santorum at 16 percent support with registered Iowa Republicans. He'd been in high single digits or low double digits for a while, but 16 percent put him in third place, behind Romney and Paul. Third place meant that the media would take him seriously. So excuse Santorum for gloating. "People say, when are you gonna get your surge?" Santorum repeated. "I say, January 3." If Santorum ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Can You Really Make a Bomb Out of a Cupcake? Yglesias: Maybe Average People Should Avoid the Stock Market Entirely Is the Guy From Bon Iver the Worst Poet in the History of Pop Music?	Advertisement
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