Is Santorum Too Honest for His Own Good?

Rick Santorum's campaign has a problem: namely, Rick Santorum. The candidate prides himself on speaking off the cuff—he thinks teleprompters should be illegal for presidential candidates—but that's made him a veritable fountain of gaffes lately, leaving insiders questioning his ability to be the party standard bearer, the Washington Post observes. "He is going to answer the question, which is a good thing," a Santorum spokesman says. "But it's something we lament sometimes."

"The problem is, he's a former senator, and he wants to litigate every point," says one Republican close to the candidate. Indeed, Santorum seems unable to resist any question; when a voter asked how he felt about porn, he told her. He even railed recently against 13-year-old Malia Obama's vacation to Mexico. "About a month ago, the off-message, visceral, provocative Santorum emerged," says one Pennsylvania political science professor. "I was frankly stunned that it took so long for that to happen. It’s just who he is."