Rick Santorum Pledges to Drop Out of Presidential Race if He Finishes “Dead Last” in Iowa Caucuses – 12/27/11

Raising expectations or lowering them?

Rick Santorum reportedly said today he would “pack up and go home” if he finishes “dead last” in Iowa. Well, I don’t think anyone expects him to finish “dead last” in Iowa. Jon Huntsman has not even campaigned in Iowa, so everyone expects Huntsman to be last. Therefore, Santorum’s pledge is really not a serious declaration – unless, its purpose is to lower expectations, making any finish above last place a positive.

Actually, expectations for Santorum have increased quite a bit in the last week. Santorum has gotten a lot of buzz on Fox News, from Dick Morris, from Mike Huckabee, on conservative blogs – many predicting he will be the surprise candidate and will do much better than “expected.” Only, now we are “expecting” Santorum to do better than expected, meaning expectations for him have increased quite a bit. Santorum surely knows that, and thus may be trying to lower those expectations over this final week in hopes his actual finish in Iowa will still look “better than expected.”

CNN Political Ticker: Rick Santorum is running hard to win next week’s Iowa caucus, but the former Pennsylvania senator said Tuesday he wouldn’t continue running if he placed last.

“If I finish dead last behind the pack I’m going to pack up and go home,” Santorum said on the Iowa radio station WHO.

He was quick to add he wasn’t predicting failure.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Santorum said. “I think we’re going to be very much in the mix and I feel very good that we’re going to surprise a lot of people in how we finish.” . . . Read More