'Evangelicals' moving to Santorum

The other day I got a call asking whether it would make any difference to my vote on Tuesday if Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann ran as a team, with one indicating that he or she would select the other for vice-president if nominated.

Now I know what that was all about. It seems that Christian "Evangelicals" are abandoning Bachmann here in Iowa and flooding to Santorum. In fact, the wheels seem to be falling off the campaign of "favorite daughter" Bachmann, who was born in Iowa even though she represents a district in Minnesota. The other day her campaign manager, veteran Iowa politico Kent Sorenson, suddenly abandoned her and showed up at a Ron Paul rally, where he endorsed the extraterrestrial candidate.

It will be interesting to see the ramifications for Sorenson's career. There is a scene in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons in which Thomas More, on trial for his life, says to former protege Richard Rich, who has just perjured himself on behalf of the prosecution in exchange for the office of Attorney General for Wales, "Richard, Richard! It profits a man nothing to gain the whole world in exchange for his soul. But for Wales!"

But for Ron Paul, Kent? A marginal figure who has as much chance of winning the nomination as... well, Richard Rich? The esteem of an admittedly vocal but still inconsequential movement on the fringe of the Republican party is worth your credibility?

Santorum is rising in the polls, and I've felt all along that he was the natural fit for the folks who backed Mike Huckabee four years ago. Depending on how strongly Iowa's "Evangelicals" get behind him, he could be a bigger factor on Tuesday than anyone has counted on.

I pick him to finish third right now. Winning would be a stretch. Finishing second wouldn't be.

HT: Drudge

ADDENDUM: Apparently not quite the stretch I thought it would be!