Pennsylvania: Santorum's Last Stand?

With losses piling up, Santorum badly needs home-state win
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 4, 2012 3:36 AM CDT
Pennsylvania: Santorum's Last Stand?
Rick Santorum speaks at a campaign rally at a hotel yesterday in Pennsylvania.   (Getty Images)

Thanks to Mitt Romney's sweep of all three primaries last night, Rick Santorum's last chance to get the GOP nomination just got closer. Now, it could all come down to Pennsylvania, reports the Washington Post. Pennsylvania is a key state in the presidential election, and Santorum's home state, but it is also the state that booted him from the Senate by an embarrassing 18-point margin in 2006. “We just have to hope that whatever was out of fashion in 2006 is way back in fashion now, because Rick has not changed," said a Santorum aide.

Santorum says his 2006 loss was part of a nationwide wave of rebuke against conservatives at the time, and others believe Pennsylvania has grown more conservative since then. But polls show the Pennsylvania race is tight, and Romney is expected to win handily the other four states holding their primaries April 24. "A lot of people admire him for his convictions, and I think he has made a remarkable run," said another Romney supporter. "But his message, I think, is far too strident. He doesn’t appeal to women, and he doesn’t appeal to independents.” (More Rick Santorum 2012 stories.)

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