It
looks like attacking Bain Capital is about to become part of Rick Santorum's campaign strategy:
On Tuesday, Santorum blasted Romney’s private-sector record at Bain Capital. “Gov. Romney has a career as an investment banker and someone who's a private equity guy on Wall Street. I'm not too sure that necessarily commends you well to be president of the United States,” Santorum said in an interview on the nationally syndicated show “Kilmeade & Friends.”
That's not quite as pointed as Newt Gingrich's attacks were, but it's still a reversal from Santorum's position at the time, which was that attacking Romney's record at Bain was off limits. Now, however:
“I don't know of one group of people that's more disliked than politicians -- it may be the folks who gave us the Wall Street bailout. And that's where Mitt Romney comes from.”
And if Republicans nominate Romney:
“We'll have a Wall Street banker going up against the president of the United States -- not the best matchup for us,” Santorum told host Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday morning.
I'm of two minds on this: First, Santorum would be a fool to not raise the Bain issue. Romney couldn't handle it when Newt Gingrich brought it up in January, there's no reason to believe he will be able to handle it now. Second, while Santorum is right that the optics of nominating a Wall Street banker would be a terrible move for the GOP, nominating a guy who pledged to speak out against the dangers of contraception from the bully pulpit would be an even worse move. That being said, I wish Rick Santorum the best of luck in making his case.