Can Santorum hang on against Romney and the Super PAC funding?

After Rick Santorum swept the caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado, and won the non-binding primary in Missouri, many started to wonder if Santorum could unseat Mitt Romney’s seemingly inexorable path to the nomination.

The field of Republican candidates for president is once again unsettled. But is Santorum really the favorite among conservative voters?

Norman J. Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said the majority of Republicans really don’t want Romney to be elected president. 

“They’ve desperately been seeking somebody else who can fill a role that does meet both of the criteria,” Ornstein said.

Those two criteria are conservative credentials and electability. Romney’s always been high in the latter but no strong in the former. Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachmann and even Rick Perry all did well in the former but have had trouble with, or even seen their campaign crash on the rocks of the latter.

“What’s happened in part to Romney over the last few weeks, especially with a couple of weeks where he went from one gaffe or problem to another, is even those who’d come reluctantly to believe they might have to settle reluctantly for a Romney because he’s the one who could win, now have doubts about that as well,” Ornstein said.

What we’re seeing now is that play out. A lot of social conservatives who might have been willing to support Romney because he could beat Obama are concerned he can’t even do that. 

But Romney still has advantages. He has the best organization among Republican candidates. And he is better funded than his challengers as well.

“Having organization and money behind you will continue to matter. But no enthusiasm behind you and a series of blows here that suggests that inevitability is not inevitable any more. That’s got to cause some significant and serious heartburn among the Romney brain trust,” Ornstein said.

Ornstein said the Super PAC funding that’s pouring into this election has made and will continue to make a big difference in who can be elected by Republicans. If not for the “unaffiliated” Super PACs, Romney would have trouble defeating Santorum, or Gingrich, Ornstein said.

“Something like 9 percent of the money Romney is getting is coming from small contributors. We’re talking about big Bain Capital and other multi-millionaires” who are donating to Romney,” Ornstein said.