Should We Start Taking Rick Santorum Seriously?

Betteridge's Law of Headlines states, "Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'".

Seriously, Rick Santorum is running second in the Republican Presidential primary race and is on a roll after his wins in Kansas, Alabama and Mississippi. In Republican politics, he has lots of good potential outcomes to smile about:

(1) Win the nomination for President.
(2) Finesse a second place finish into the VP slot on the ticket.
(3) Wrangle a cabinet post such as Secretary of Labor.

So I hate to point this out but Santorum has failed to cross the Biden line. The Biden line is based on the fact that Vice President Joe Biden is a joke who can't be taken seriously and the observation that any national politician who lags behind Joe Biden on Facebook also cannot be taken seriously.

Political Figure	Facebook Followers
Sarah Palin	3,306,278
Mitt Romney	1,529,718
Ron Paul	908,793
Mike Huckabee	660,192
Michele Bachmann	455,142
Donald Trump	375,625
Herman Cain	375,453
Joe Biden	317,461
Newt Gingrich	295,967
John Boehner	289,931
Marco Rubio	255,286
Scott Brown	241,115
Rick Perry	180,571
Rick Santorum	179,140
Rand Paul	170,229
Gary Johnson	153,095
Bobby Jindal	151,482
Jim DeMint	150,118
Tim Pawlenty	100,243
Paul Ryan	90,734
Allen West	84,618
Scott Walker	76,484
John Thune	75,080
Chris Christie	56,580
Bob McDonnell	53,363
Mitch Daniels	53,044
John Kasich	39,138
Jon Huntsman	37,461

That's a telling list. The polarizing Sarah Palin is still more liked than Mitt Romney. But Rick Santorum? If you were picking a VP running mate and didn't want a controversial figure like Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Herman Cain, or Newt Gingrich you also have choices like Mike Huckabee, John Boehner, Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, or even Rand Paul to pick from before Rick Santorum.

What's going on here? The viral Santorum First Love video Game On has hit 940,970 views on YouTube. So it isn't the case that Santorum supporters don't have access to the internet. Over 2,282,245 voters and counting have been willing to pull his lever in the privacy of the voting booth. But clicking the like button on Facebook would expose that you are a Santorum fan to your friends, and not that many people are yet willing to come out of the closet of the voting booth to do that for Santorum.

This does not mean Rick Santorum cannot earn the right to be taken seriously, just that he hasn't earned it, yet.

Update: It was unfair to omit Jon Huntsman in a discussion of who isn't ready to be taken seriously. And I should admit that not all of these guys are national figures, John Kasich is doing pretty good for Governor of Ohio.