RICK SANTORUM

Rick Santorum seems to have thrown a spanner into the otherwise well-oiled machine that is Mitt Romney's campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination. The former Senator from Pennsylvania won all three contests up for grabs this week, in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. Romney must have been particularly concerned about his third place in Minnesota, behind libertarian Ron Paul.

Santorum is the sort of modern politician, who could only succeed in America. He is, by European standards, extremely right-wing, illiberal (he is anti-gay) and very religious. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the U.S., most of them in the Republican Party, who think like him. They also tend to vote in the primaries, so he has a chance to win the nomination, even if Romney has a C.V. eminently better suited to running the biggest economy on earth.

The U.S. has an odd political system. On the one hand, it really is a winner-take-all contest, a choice of only two candidates being narrow, viewed in world terms. On the other, there are so many checks and balances built into it, that extreme Presidents find it difficult to get anything done. Having said that, I for one would find a President Santorum alarming. The last thing we want in a troubled world is politics based on smug moral and religious certitude. Tony Blair was enough for one lifetime.

Walter Blotscher