GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- Rick Santorum is as unpopular in Pennsylvania today
as he was six years ago when state voters kicked him out of the
Senate.
That sour public perception may doom his fading chances of staying in
the GOP presidential race, along with other hurdles that dot his path
to a needed victory in the April 24 primary.
He has failed to heal a rift with fiscal conservatives who lost
confidence in him when he was in Washington. Nor has he reassured GOP
leaders that he can temper his hard-line positions on social issues
that repel moderate and independent voters.
The former senator also faces a nearly insurmountable hurdle to stop
Mitt Romney. None of that seems to be deterring Santorum.
"People in Pennsylvania know me," he said last week while campaigning
in the Pittsburgh area.
That may be part of the problem.