THE GLOBE AND MAIL: When Rick Santorum began his improbable presidential run last June, half of Republican voters had never heard of him. Even after a dozen debates, he was just as unknown.
One group has long been well acquainted with him, however. And it is not the social conservatives behind his stunning tie for first place in this week’s Iowa caucuses.
Gay rights activists have considered Mr. Santorum a menace since his 2003 outburst against a Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws. They have ensured that, even after he lost his Senate seat in 2006, Mr. Santorum’s name has lived on in infamy.
Thus was born the noun “santorum” – a word whose definition is so unsavoury the ex-senator has been trying to get Google to remove it from its search engine.
But as Mr. Santorum comes under scrutiny as potentially the only candidate able to stop Mitt Romney, he is discovering there is no erasing one’s past in politics or cyberspace.
The sudden attention could take him down or rehabilitate the meaning of his name.
The Republican base still craves a candidate who can beat the “Massachusetts moderate” – as the fast fading Newt Gingrich calls Mr. Romney. Mr. Santorum may be poised to ride a conservative wave, if not to the nomination, perhaps to a place on the GOP ticket. » | Konrad Yakabuski | MANCHESTER, N. H. | Friday, January 06, 2012
