The Republican Primaries have been a surprise for the world. Most of those who do not live in the United States, are unable to explain how a figure like Rick Santorum became so popular and, for some time, threatened the now certain Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Santorum has turned into a political figure worth studying.  The other aspirants competing to become the Republican candidate never viewed him as a serious rival. However, Santorum was certain that poll results do not win elections; votes do.  He was also certain that if he worked hard, he would have his chance.

He knew that some of the other possible nominees were arrogant and would never consider him a serious threat unless he could really scare them. At the beginning, he had the huge advantage of having no pressure and of not being committed to anyone. He had more freedom to develop his political program because no one expected anything from him.

In order to understand how Rick Santorum had so much popularity with his speeches that sometimes seemed as if a reverend was giving them, and not a politician, it’s  necessary to have some facts about how religious the United States really is. Gallup International indicated, in 2010, that 43% of Americans  reported they go to church regularly. This is a much higher percentage than in Europe,where in countries like France the church attendance percentage is  21%. The United States is a very religious country, and that is why someone like Rick Santorum was able to persuade so many voters.

Rick Santorum had a good strategy. He knew where to hit first, and he did it hard. He won the conservative state of Iowa in the primaries, and suddenly, he appeared on the map. The voters in the rest of the country realized that Perry, Cain, Gingrich, and Romney were not the only ones competing; Santorum had something to say too. The former senator of Pennsylvania appeared on the political map and, although now he has already retired from the primaries, I am sure that this is not the last that we will hear from him; in the future he may have his chance.

Santorum ended his journey winning eleven states. He’s the first politician that I can truly say seemed really sincere, and he didn’t mind being politically incorrect, since he was more worried about saying what he really thought. It was a positive experience seeing someone in politics with clear principles about controversial topics, which most politicians are not willing to talk about because they could lose votes.

Rick Santorum had success in his speeches because the most conservative bases of the Republican Party, which includes evangelical and rural voters, loved him. They realized that he was sincere and Romney, on the other hand, was seen as a questionable conservative.

In the end reality shut down the dream of Rick Santorum when the voters realized that he would not win an election in November, and so they chose Romney, who is a more electable candidate. This story is worthy of study. It was amazing the way a little and insignificant fish almost ate a shark, and how Santorum became even more popular than figures known all around the country; it shows us that in politics nothing is written.

Image Courtesy of  Gage Skidmore

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The US elections are wide open. Anyone can win; the polls show that Obama and Romney are virtually tied, the future is uncertain and the elections are only six months away, anything can happen.

Normally a president in the United States is reelected, the history of the country has shown it, if everything in the country goes the way it should, reelection is almost certain.

Obama won the election in an historical campaign; he was seen as the new hope, Bush government didn’t end well so the Republican Party was very weak, Obama took advantage of their weakness to become stronger, he declared himself the anti-Bush because he knew that the country had a common enemy and it appears that he learned well in school that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

John McCain, a former war hero, who competed against him had no chance of winning, he was seen as a continuation of George Bush, so Obama was elected president and the Democrat party returned to the white house.

Most of the world thought Obama would be a great president, one of the reasons they elected him was because the country was tired of the war on Iraq, and Obama promised to bring the troop backs very soon.

But the economy had other plans, and Obama’s government has not been as good as expected, the financial crisis has been rough, and something that you have to know is that when the economy is bad, people forget about anything else and just focus in their pockets and will vote for anyone that will give them a little economic relief, during this times of crisis what will determine who will win an election are not your social policies or a new stadium you are planning to build, what will really make you win is how many new jobs you promise to create or if people really believe that you would not increase taxes.

Economy has been the Achilles Heel of Obama’s government, and it doesn’t seems that things would get better in the next six months, they might just get worse depending on what happens in Europe, which is involved in an uncertain situation with the victory of the socialist Francois Hollande in France and with the results of the elections in Greece where the two major parties don’t have enough parliamentarians to form a government, so the elections may be repeated.

Mostly the economic issue could convert Mitt Romney into the next United States president; he would try to take advantage, like Obama did in the past election, of the hope of the people that with a new government thing would get better.

He would try to magnify Obama’s political mistakes so people would associate economic crisis with Obama, it’s a fact that we are immersed in a worldwide economic crisis and that it has not been Obama’s fault, but Romney would try to show the people that if the government had acted they way they should, then the United States would be out of the crisis by know.

Obama’s electoral campaign has a clear goal: to reconnect his government with the liberal sector of the country, witch has been the traditional sector that votes the Democrat party, that’s why a few days ago he announced that he supports gay marriage, he also wants to attract Hispanic and Afro-American voters who are disappointed with him.

Mitt Romney has one clear advantage over Barrack Obama and it is that he is perceived as a moderate republican, the contrary of Rick Santorum, because he was governor of Massachusetts, which is one of the most liberal states in the country.

The disadvantage is that he has less charm than Obama and also he is not such a good speaker as Obama. Also Romney has been a very successful businessman so Obama is trying to persuade the voter to perceive Romney like the typical rich that is trying to acquire political power to favor the big corporations.

But Romney could take advantage of the fact that he is a good businessman by counterattacking Obama saying that in order to create more wealth the United States needs a men who has been a good CEO, not someone like Obama who doesn’t understand about business and failed in his presidency.

Only time would tell who would win the election, and unless something extraordinary happens, that favors or dooms a candidate; it would be almost impossible to be certain of who will win this election. The strategies are already set, so now we have just to wait for the country to respond.

Image Courtesy of   Third Way

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