Huck v. Santo: The cage match for Iowa evangelicals

In contrast, Santorum was mired in the single digits for a year until he surged ahead in the weeks before the 2012 caucuses.

Supporters coalesced around him as the only viable social conservative in a field weakened by a circular firing squad of negative attacks and he just barely managed to edge out Romney once every vote was tallied.

Jamie Johnson, a member of the Republican Party of Iowa’s state central committee told The Daily Beast “they loved Huckabee… there was definitely a heart connection …as opposed to Santorum where they thought their way towards” supporting him.