David Brody at CBN noted Rick Santorum’s decision to take 4 days off prior from Thursday to Sunday from campaigning in Pennsylvania:
That’s not a good sign for you sweater vest fans. Let me try and explain this way: You don’t take four days off when you’re fighting to win Pennsylvania. Clearly this looks like the end of the line for him. I would think an announcement will come the Monday after Easter.
The Santorum campaign emailed me tonight to inform me that Santorum will resume a full schedule events on Monday.
Brody seemed to not take some things into account. First of all, Easter Weekend rallies are not going to be particularly well-attended. I was raised in a house where Easter was not given a whole lot of respect and so during my 2004 bid for the State House, I campaigned on Easter Sunday. Second worse day campaigning next to Mother’s Day.
The fact is that a well-rested Santorum campaigning 17 days in Pennsylvania is worth a whole lot more than the current version campaigning in twenty-one.
To say Santorum has run a tireless campaign understates the matter. From After Christmas until today, Santorum hasn’t had a day off. He’s been at work for 100 straight days. (He did take 4 days away in Florida, but given that he came home to find a child facing death, this can hardly be considered R&R time) Some of these days featured lighter public schedules, but Santorum is a candidate who does many events that aren’t publicly announced such as tele-townhalls. He is the hardest working candidate in the race, running each state uphill against insurmountable media odds, scrapping for every vote.
Unfortunately, he’d begun to see diminishing returns. Even supporters began to comment on videos of interviews that he looked “tired.” Probably most of us have no conception of how “tired” he is. Certainly Santorum grabbed moments of relaxation when he could (infamously sun-bathing for a few minutes in Puerto Rico and then bowling in Wisconsin where bowling regretably became part of the campaign.) This rest was overdue. If Santorum made one big mistake in his campaign, it was not taking enough days off to keep himself refreshed.
Santorum called “half time” in his Tuesday speech and in football, there’s a break at half time. And this is good timing for a break. It’s Holy Week with Catholics having a series of services. Santorum. Santorum gets a 4-day weekend from the campaign trail and gets to spend some time with his family and church as Rick with no campaign agenda. Then on Monday, it starts all over again.
If Santorum wins Pennsylvania, he’ll have a two month road ahead of him that will go through thirteen states. Hopefully, he’ll take a few more pit stops in the second half.