With santorum out tea party a failure

[darrmad]

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...a-partys-limit

Santorum's Exit Shows the Tea Party's Limit

Rick Santorum’s decision to quit the presidential race on Tuesday clarifies a number of things. Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee. The general election race will be closer than it otherwise would have been. And for the second cycle in a row, the conservative activists who make up the GOP’s base are going to get stiffed—they’ll be forced to reconcile themselves to a nominee whom many dislike.

This is not how the 2012 Republican primary was supposed to unfold. When the race unofficially got under way 18 months ago, the Tea Party was at the peak of its influence, having just handed Republicans control of the House of Representatives.