There were two notable changes in the contest for
the presidency this week. Barack Obama's job approval score rose and
the race for the Republican nomination appears to be between Mitt
Romney and Rick Santorum.
It would be premature to say that Obama's prospects of winning a
second term have improved much. But a Gallup Poll Thursday shows his
job approval score creeping up to 46 percent and his disapproval score
inching down a bit to 47 percent.
He's still in danger of becoming a one term president, but it's
a million miles in political terms between now and November 6 and his
job approval numbers do appear to be tightening. And the race for the
White House will very likely tighten up in the months to come,
depending on the GOP race and what happens in the economy.
Tuesday's Iowa Republican caucuses have winnowed the field to
two major candidates, though this may change in the primary contests
later on this month.
Libertarian Ron Paul finished in a disappointing third place.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich fell further to the back of the
pack with 13 percent. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, at 10 percent, is all but
finished, and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota dropped out of the
race after she finished in last place.
Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, is now the
conservative alternative to Romney, though he still faces an uphill
battle to replicate his Iowa performance in the primaries to come.
Santorum surged to the front of the pack on a wave of
evangelical support on the social and religious issues that he's
championed throughout his career. His supporters in Iowa were the same
voters who lifted Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in the Hawkeye state
in 2008 -- only to run out of steam after the New Hampshire primary.
Santorum pulled off his razor thin second place finish by
virtually living in Iowa over the past six months, visiting all 99
counties in a pickup truck, preaching a right to life message against
abortion, his opposition to gay marriage, and the coarsening decline
in our culture.
The weak, jobless Obama economy is issue one, two, three and
four in this election cycle, but Santorum ran as the race's fiercest
social issue warrior.
His first act as president, he said, would be to sign an
executive order banning all federal financial support for abortions.
But can that message draw similar support in the party primaries
to come this month in New Hampshire, where Romney has a virtually
prohibitive lead? Or South Carolina and Florida where the unemployment
rate is still stuck at a catastrophic 10 percent.