As a foreigner, I find it astonishing that religion plays such a large part

[Silent3]

8. Santorum's level of religious rhetoric...

...will not play at all well in a general election, even if, sadly enough, it's apparently tasty motivational red meat for the Republican base.

Then again, I don't think people in the US are as disgusted as they should be by Santorum. If the economy suddenly took another dive or some other big crisis hit, no matter how little Obama has to do with it, our low-information emotionally-driven voters are quite capable of putting a "nutter" like Santorum into the White House.