Written by - Kasie Hunt
On the last day before the Iowa caucus, it’s looking like this race is boiling down to Romney and Santorum. Romney, who has kept a steady lead now has to deal with Santorum surging forward in the polls and trying to win over undecided conservatives in order to claim a victory. In 2008, Romney lost the race by having only 25% of the Iowa vote because of skepticism over his religious beliefs and his flip flopping on social issues. Right now, he has the same amount of backing in Iowa as he did four years ago. Romney also has to deal with other candidates using the same election tactics that he is. Santorum is also chasing after conservatives to solidify his candidacy. While Romney is focusing on the central argument that he is the only candidate who is able to wage a strong enough campaign that’ll beat Obama, Santorum and Paul are trying to convince voters of the same notion. Romney tried to attack Santorum by saying that Santorum “has spent his career in the government in Washington. I’ll let people make their own assessment of our respective records, but I’m a conservative.” Santorum’s counter attack in a CNN interview was that he was able to win in states by getting Democrats and Independents to vote for him, something that Romney failed to accomplish. The polls show that Iowans want a candidate who shares their views as well as a candidate who will beat Obama. While the polls favor Romney as the one who will win the general election, Santorum wins when it comes to having a better relationship with voters. It all comes down to who on the fence Republicans decide.
This really reveals who the frontrunners are in the polls and how the Iowa caucuses will most likely prove to be a close election. It also shows what the Iowa voters really want in a candidate, and could project what voters in the upcoming caucuses look for as well and who they will vote for. No one can run a perfect campaign, but both Romney and Santorum know the areas that they need to improve on. Romney needs to improve relations with voters, and Santorum needs to show that he is a stronger candidate and an able opponent against Obama. If both men improve in these areas, then the upcoming elections will be really close. However, can we really expect something new from them? Will Romney be able to keep his lead or will Santorum be able to swoop in with a steal? This only makes the upcoming election all the more interesting, because it definitely is not certain who will come out on top anymore.
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