COMMENTARY | Rick Santorum’s “Goldilocks Strategy” paid off handsomely in Iowa, where finished eight votes behind caucus winner Mitt Romney. According to the Des Moines Register, Santorum garnered the support of 24.5 percent of caucus-goers. Finishing in a dead heat with Romney, Santorum declared himself the real winner.
It was a stunning come-from-behind “victory” for a candidate who, a week ago, garnered only 10 percent in a Register poll.
Goldilocks
Rick Santorum enunciated his “Goldilocks” strategy in a December 2, 2011 stop at his Bedford, N.H., headquarters. The self-described “Steady Eddie” said that the “Goldilocks” of GOP voters would eventually come around to him.
Santorum had been asked if Christian evangelicals, a major voting bloc in Iowa, would support Newt Gingrich. Santorum told the audience that he had already received word from Iowa, meaning Bob Vander Plaats of Family Leader, that the evangelical political committee would not be endorsing Gingrich, as the media had speculated. (The Family Leader board of directors decided not to endorse a candidate, but Vander Plaats personally endorsed Santorum.)
He then laid out his Goldilocks strategy.
“You can look at this as a progression, in some respects,” he said, explaining the recent rise of Gingrich in the polls, which had made him the front-runner in Iowa.
“You’re looking at it from the standpoint of the hype candidate to the cool candidate. And after the hype, which was Perry, and the cool candidate, which was Cain, you’re saying OK, maybe we need someone who is actually thoughtful and experienced and cool in the sense he’s smart and he beats up on the press and he beats up on Obama and he’s pretty glib and went to Cambridge and now we ‘re looking — how ’bout thoughtful, steady, reliable, sort of Steady Eddie.
“I think that’s the progression. As people get closer to the election, that is what they are going to look for. They don’t want someone to blow this. They want someone who is reliable and steady. You know what he’s going to do because of what he’s done.
“I’m increasingly confident that when people take a look at us we’re going to be the Goldilocks. We’re going to be just right.”
Steady Eddie
On cacucus night, Rick Santorum’s Goldilocks Strategy paid off.
The Des Moines Register quoted caucus-goer Susan Sorenson, who attended the caucus night gathering at Santorum’s headquarters. (Santorum’s campaign staff had begun billing the gathering as the “Iowa Caucus Night Victory Party” on New Year’s Day.)
“He’s kind of a steady Eddie,” told the newspaper. “I like that.”
There are questions whether Steady Eddie’s Goldilocks Strategy will work in New Hampshire. A week before the New Hampshire primary, RealClearPolitics reports that in an aggregate of four polls, Santorum lags in sixth place with only 4 percent.
Santorum is confident that the momentum from his strong showing in Iowa will enable him to compete in other states.