To those claiming that social issues dragged the Republican Party down in 2012, check out this report from Family Research Council:

In a year in which the losing candidate for president, Republican Mitt Romney, won 48 percent of the popular vote nationwide, the one-man-one-woman marriage position strongly outpolled Romney in all four states where the marriage issue was on the ballot.

These states are considered to be “blue” states: Minnesota, Maryland, Washington and Maine. If Santorum had been the nominee, he would have made the case for marriage. Romney was practically silent on the issue, plus his record does not indicate support for marriage. If the GOP had nominated a candidate who would stand up and make the case for marriage, as Rick Santorum does, it seems likely that he’d have not only fared better than Romney but may also have helped to swing all four states into the pro-marriage category. You see, unless you make a case for something, your side is going to lose. If you make the case, your side is more likely to win. Think about it. If you are going to court, do you want an attorney who is going to be silent about your argument? No. To win the case, you want your attorney to argue your side. That is the only way to win. Santorum can do that. Romney didn’t even try, and his record on the issue is liberal. There’s no way of knowing for sure if you’re going to lose a case if you hire an attorney who won’t argue your side, but doesn’t common sense tell us that our chances are better with someone who can make the case?