April 15, 2011 01:54 AM UTC

Rick Santorum Will Not Be President

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• by: Colorado Pols

Nevertheless, we’ve noted the entry of nominally “major” GOP candidates for the presidency as they have announced, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t in his case–AP reports:

Santorum has been laying the groundwork for months. While the two-term senator lacks the name recognition and fundraising organization of his better-known rivals, he is a favorite among the social conservatives who hold huge sway in some early nominating contests.

“Now, the only test for me is whether we can raise the money that’s necessary,” Santorum told Fox News Channel, where he worked as a contributor until the network put him on leave while he decided whether to enter the race. “We’re going to determine over the next few weeks as to whether the resources are going to be there.”

Santorum, a blunt-talking conservative who once was the No. 3 Senate Republican, has made frequent visits to early-voting states New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina. On Thursday, he planned a town hall-style meeting on the economy at New England College in Henniker, N.H…

His policy positions align with conservatives who are looking at many of the expected candidates with hesitation.

Santorum was recently in Colorado to headline a state Republican Party fundraiser with new chairman Ryan Call, as the Colorado Statesman’s Ernest Luning reported last week:

“This was a state that didn’t go quite the way we hoped – it wasn’t just Colorado, it was everything west of the Mississippi,” [Santorum] said. “Would I come into a group that was sort of flat and not energized, or would the fire still be burning?” He said he was happy to see the state GOP’s enthusiasm because, he said, this is a serious time.

“You’re going to be in the center of it – you’re one of those purple states that can swing either way and are going to decide who the next President of the United States is going to be.” And the stakes, Santorum said, couldn’t be higher…

“If we do not win this election and ‘Obamacare’ goes into effect, America as you know it, as you were given it by your parents and grandparents – America will be gone forever,” he said. “That’s what I believe is at stake. America as you know it will be gone.”

Riveting, but probably not enough to get Santorum out of the bush leagues.