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Rick Santorum is the culture war candidate. In the past week, the culture war resumed center stage in the American political theater. Ergo, Rick Santorum swept all three of Tuesday's contests for the GOP presidential nomination. Q.E.D.

Lest you doubt the minor premise, let's review. Thanks to the HHS contraception coverage mandate, the Obama "war on religion" meme has gone viral. On the other side, there's the Komen Katastrophe. And midday yesterday came news that the Ninth Circuit--yes, that Ninth Circuit--had given the boot to California's Proposition 8. Meanwhile, the economy seems to be picking up steam. And so, the campaign has begun to resemble 2004, when "social issues" topped the list of major electoral concerns. As they finished their campaigning in Colorado, Minnesota, and MIssouri, the GOP wannabes were in full war-on-religion cry.

Whatever can be said about Mitt Romney, he's the worst culture warrior in the Republican field. He represents a once oppressed religious minority, and seems constitutionally incapable of flip-flopping into religious hegemon mode. Plus he's got the baggage of being caught on videotape supporting abortion and gay rights. Absent surveys of voters yesterday, it worth noting that the last PPP poll  of CO-MN-MO showed Romney on the way down in all three states, Santorum on the way up--with evangelicals everywhere, but especially in Colorado, looking for an alternative to the Mormon candidate. Evangelicals in Colorado are more familiar with Mormons than evangelicals in most other places.

I'm beginning to think that while those evangelical leaders who met in Texas may have been a day late and a dollar short for Santorum in South Carolina and Florida, their networks are now beginning to kick in. This is getting interesting.