Of the nine candidates who will be participating in the next GOP presidential debate next week in California, less than a handful have a serious shot at the 2012 nomination.
But one of the best parts of the early going of a presidential campaign is having a large variety of choices for the public to review and assess. And the fact is, at this time four years ago, the ultimate nominee, John McCain, was being publicly written off.
But when you did lose by 18 percentage points in your last election, as Rick Santorum did in 2006 against Democrat Bob Casey for Senate in Pennsylvania, it does take some monumental – well, chutzpah, if nothing else. And that's the question we popped to him Saturday night at a party observing the one year countdown to the Republican National Convention taking place in Tampa.
"I guess Abraham Lincoln should have never run for President," the former Senator replied icily, "Because he lost almost every election he ran. Lotta chutzpah to go and run for President, wasn't it?…Good thing he did, wasn't it?"
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2011.
