Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, predicts defeat for John McCain in the presidential primary race because, Santorum says, the Arizona senator has alienated too many conservative voters.
A new Rasmussen poll shows former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading Senator McCain by 18 points in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. Giuliani now attracts support from 33 percent of those likely to vote in the Republican primary. McCain is supported by just 15 percent of those surveyed, while former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich - even though he has not officially announced he is running - is backed by 13 percent.
Santorum says McCain's problem is that he has not governed as a conservative the last few years, and, therefore, "has alienated just about every conservative, whether it’s social conservatives or economic conservatives or environmental - you name it. ... So he’s created a vacuum - and as a result of that, Rudy’s been able to assert himself."
Santorum, now a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, predicts some other candidate will emerge as the major challenger to Giuliani for the nomination.
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