Especially since the field narrowed, a big part of Rick Santorum’s appeal is that he’s the only serious candidate who has never supported an individual mandate to purchase health insurance, and he’s darn good at explaining why. Earlier this morning, the Right Scoop posted a story which initially threatened to undermine that by suggesting he had supported one in 1994. Fortunately, the Right Scoop updated the original post with more information revealing that the initial characterization of Santorum’s position was incorrect, and then with a 1994 video of Santorum passionately arguing against any such mandate.

Last night, David Freddoso said he “will never understand how Newt became a more acceptable not-Romney than Santorum.” That’s easily the biggest, most tragic absurdity of this entire primary: People are desperate for a more reliably conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, which is understandable, but instead of the obvious choice right in front of them, so many rally around a candidate that’s just as ideologically compromised as Romney, far more personally compromised, and is arguably running on a less conservative platform than Romney. And they’re not only rallying around him, but making support for him into an idiotic grassroots-vs.-establishment litmus test. If Romney winds up as the nominee, these shortsighted hypocrites will have nobody to blame but themselves. They certainly won’t be able to blame me – I’m voting for the conservative.

UPDATE: The Weekly Standard’s Jeffrey Anderson says Santorum has misrepresented Gingrich on healthcare, because the mandate isn’t his current position. But I think Santorum’s point is that, if Gingrich has repeatedly expressed support for the idea at the federal level and even endorsed RomneyCare in 2006, then you have to wonder just how sincere his current position is. Or are last-minute flip-flops only wrong when Mitt Romney does them?