And Romney will need to consider him. He’s been vetted. There will be no need to spend much money making him familiar to the public, though much will be spent.

Santorum appeals to conservatives better than any other. They’ll accept him as a second, and more willingly get behind Romney.

Rubio’s name has been thrown out, but he’s a rookie, and rookie’s are risky. Many think he would sway latinos, though that is not certain. He is of Cuban descent and that doesn’t necessarily endear him to any other latino group. They do like the President. A 3/5/12 Fox News Latino poll shows the President ahead with latinos by 6 to 1 over all-comer’s, with a 73% approval rating.

As for the Affordable Care Act, it seems that no one wants to admit just how difficult it would be to repeal or amend it without huge gains by the republicans in the Senate, and a continued control of the House. Romney wouldn’t be able to repeal the Act as president. That simply isn’t the way legislation works.

And might someone, anyone, explain just how the Act (or amended version) would leave “us vulnerable to coersion, bankruptcy or health care choice” (perhaps in a new post.)

Are health insurance companies not guilty of coersion? We get what they are willing to offer us, not for what we pay. What choice is there in that? Often times, coverage is denied even when clearly shown as covered in the policy paid for by the consumer. And isn’t the current system, as managed by the private sector most assuredly bankrupting the country? It accounts for a staggering 18% of GDP and is climbing. We have, by far, the highest costs associated with health care.

Maybe you could explain what Romney intends to replace Obamacare with, and how he can credibly run against Obama on this issue? It surely is not fantasy that, whatever the perception today, this is the most important issue of this election. And if Romney wins the nomination, wins the election and repeals Obamacare, it remains to be seen what his next step is. His previous record does not inspire confidence. And while its not Santorum’s position, one wonders whether those who have thought deeply about, and thus feel strongly about this issue, might not stay at home rather than vote for Romney. Because a version of Obmacare light, or template-for-Obamacare, leaves us vulnerable to coercion, bankruptcy and lack of health care choice. And if passed by a Republican, then after Obamacare having already been passed and repealed, it will be very difficult to back away from it.

What is Santorum’s vision for how he wins the Republican nomination? He is apparently planning to cause the convention’s cruise ship to run aground on the rocks of an incomplete majority, then wager that the majority of delegates will be so thankful to Santorum for sinking the ship that they will give him one of the lifeboats and send him off to battle Obama’s battleship. He is as delusional as the Italian cruise captian.

Perhaps there might be a shadow of a possibility that a convention could see a shift in delegates that moved someone who was a close second into a winning majority, but Santorum is not even close. He has no moral stance to claim that the will of the voters who chose Romney two to one over Santorum can be casually disregarded. It would be suicide for the Republican Party to tell voters that it doesn’t need to pay attention to their votes.

Make no mistake: Santorum is not just opposing Romney, he is opposing the growing number of Republican voters who have chosen Romney over him, offering to represent them in the nomination and in the election while blowing off their choice of the other guy.

Is this how he plans to handle Iran, Russia, and China? The poor economy and lack of jobs? By creating chaos and hoping he can pull off a miracle?

It goes against all political wisdom that a candidate that people are supporting in large part because he is the safe candidate they believe can win in November, will actually win in November. Money, the culture, and the media will no longer be on his side and he will run against a machine more formidable than his.

Substantively we still don’t know what he would replace Obamacare with. If he repeals it, and replaces it with a version of Obamacare-lite, we will be left with a system that may still have the mechanisms in place to be potentially used by presidents of either party to coerce through the health care system by way of executive of order.

The economy is important, but healthcare has the longest reaching consequences of any issue on the table. The Republican candidate should be able to distinguish himself/herself from President clearly on this, and in a credible manner.

If Romney spells out his healthcare plan to appeal to conservative voters he won’t be able to run with any credibility in the fall.

If he doesn’t spell out his plan to conservatives, given what’s at stake and his previous record, how can they trust him?

Its a tough place for Romney to be in. If he wins the nomination and healthcare comes to the fore we will watch him struggle through the fall.