Rick Santorum did not receive big GOP donor backing during the primary. Rather, he was at the receiving end of negative advertising purchased by big GOP donors. Nevertheless, he managed to win eleven states. It is this record that gives him personal credibility on points quoted at National Review in regard to what it is going to take for the Republican Party to win in 2016. Santorum noted the contrast between the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Santorum pointed to the 2010 midterm election as a study in contrasts. When bailouts, Obamacare, and cap and trade took center stage, he claimed, voters delivered huge wins for the GOP. Republicans picked up 63 seats in the House and six seats in the Senate, a performance President Obama memorably described as “a shellacking.” This year, by contrast, the “issues that energized our base were not mentioned at all,” Santorum tells NRO. “We can win this argument, but not if we don’t make it.”

Santorum also pointed out that GOP donors are not exactly experts in politics, and they are banking on wins, but they are putting their trust in the wrong people.

“What I found out in the Republican primary is that the donor class of Republicans are different from the donor class of Democrats,” he said, in that Republican moneymen are more reluctant to put money behind dark-horse candidates. (Though casino mogul Sheldon Adelson did spend $16.5 million backing former House speaker Newt Gingrich before donating millions to the Romney campaign.) Santorum said that Republican donors “want a return on their investment,” but that “most people who are giving that money don’t know the first thing about what it takes to win.” Santorum lamented that they take their cues from political pundits who are similarly ignorant and “live in big blue counties,” to boot.

Rick Santorum can make the case for conservatism. That’s why he can win elections. Had those big GOP donors backed him in 2012, I have no doubt that he would have done far better than Mitt Romney, and most likely would have beaten Barack Obama. The naysayers who would claim that I am wrong about that are generally the same naysayers who said a year ago that there is no way that he could poll over 3%, let alone win any state against Romney in the primary. He won eleven.

I didn’t endorse Rick Santorum because he’s Catholic, or because he’s pro-life. I endorsed him because he can make the case for conservatism across the board, most especially on what to do about poverty. I am, after all, poor, and I hate poverty…a lot.

There is math, and then there is smart math. Investing in the Santorum campaign would have been smart math.

Though I am poor, I’m still not dependant on food stamps, or disability assistance, or welfare, or Medicaid, or anything else but local charities and my family. Instead, I’m offering up my sufferings for Rick Santorum, for the sake of my country. He’s a smart investment for my spiritual assets, and America is worth saving, too. If the Republican Party does not back him next time, I will take it personally.