Sometimes we are taunted by the great counterfactual possibilities of history. One of those possibilities is that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, rather than dividing up the “I did not invent Obamacare, and I am also a carbon-based life form” vote, could have joined forces to possibly bring down Mitt Romney. And now, via Josh Green, it can be told: The two giants held long discussions of just such a plan, a non-Romney unity ticket.
Rick Santorum tells Green the plan “could have changed the outcome of the primary” and “could have changed the outcome of the general election.” The first part is possibly true — Romney was teetering on the brink of a collapse at several points, most notably on the eve of his home state Michigan's primary, which he eked out by a 41–38 margin, and where defeat might have triggered a spiral of defections from his paper-thin base of support. The second part is possibly true or possibly false, depending on whether you define turning a four-point loss into a ten-point loss as a “different outcome.” ...Jonathan Chait,Daily Intel
Chait goes on to wonder whether this would have been the "Gingrum" ticket, noting that a gingrum sounds like "something disgusting." Actually, it would have been pretty disgusting, wouldn't it?
And doomed:
If Santorum were really clever, he would have accepted the vice-presidential spot and waited for the inevitable Gingrich impeachment — misappropriating funds for jewelry? starting a war with Mars without Senate approval? declaring himself president for life? all the above? — and taken over then as a comparatively reassuring figure. ...Jonathan Chait,Daily Intel
Maybe I'm the only voter who doesn't find Santorum "comparatively reassuring." But hey, I'm probably the only leftist lunatic out here.
___
The source of the story is Businessweek -- which has this to say:
The negotiations collapsed in acrimony because Gingrich and Santorum could not agree on who would get to be president. “In the end,” Gingrich says, “it was just too hard to negotiate.”
"Moi" vs. national interest dilemma leads to a conclusion which saves the entire nation from an embarrassing presidency.
