Forget the math. Forget that Rick Santorum needs 60+% of the remaining delegates to get to 1,144. Rick Santorum and his campaign are still out talking about his chances in November.
J. Hogan Gidley, Santorum National Communications Director, told "NOW" today that his candidate is Mitt Romney's worst nightmare:
JOHN HARWOOD: I thought he wants to talk about his pro-growth economic tax cut plan and his job creation record at Bain Capital? GIDLEY: You know and I know he’s a moderate and that’s what he wants to talk about – he wants to tack back to the middle and show his true colors and take off that sheep’s clothing and show the moderate wolf he is underneath and just keep moving forward from there. ALEX & PANEL: Moderate wolf??!! Moderate wolf??!! Moderate wolf??!! GIDLEY: The problem is he can’t win conservatives. And he knows that. And he knows Rick Santorum is the stumbling block for him there because at the end of the day his worst nightmare is going against Rick Santorum one-on-one.
The "Moderate Wolf" line is also, incidentally, our "NOW" Intern Moment of the Day. Our intern liked it because "it caused a stir on the panel and in the control room... trying to make Romney sound menacing but moderate."
We think this Moderate Wolf's worst nightmare is actually Santorum and Newt Gingrich together prolonging this long, slow crawl to the Republican National Convention in August.
