Conservatives are gathered this weekend in DC at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit to kvetch about Obama, liberals and the homosexual agenda. But aside from bemoaning the collapse of American culture, they are also here to start the vetting process for potential GOP presidential candidates. Many of the aspiring candidates are here to woo evangelical voters, including Mitt Romney, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee and Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty. But there are a number of other people on the summit’s straw poll ballot who are also throwing their hats in the ring. The best known are Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. But the ballot also includes Ron Paul, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and, surprisingly, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Perhaps his appeal to the values voters is not so shocking given his rabid anti-gay stance. But Santorum lost his last election in a blowout by Sen. Bob Casey in one of the largest losses in Senate history. His defeat stemmed in no small part to a concerted Internet campaign by gay columnist Dan Savage to use Santorum’s name to describe the “frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the biproduct of anal sex,” an effort launched after Santorum equated homosexuality with bestiality. It’s hard to imagine the guy could run a viable presidential campaign with his name forever linked to anal sex in Google. I guess we’ll find out how viable Santorum is among people who agree with him today at 3:15 when the straw poll results are released.
