The 2012 GOP Presidential race is heating up. Front-runners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are tied in Iowa; Rick Perry is reassessing his campaign (which is essentially implying he’s out of the race); and Newt Gingrich’s campaign took a heavy fall after negative ads by Romney’s campaign.

The biggest surprise of them all is Santorum. Not many people thought the former Pennsylvania senator would even make ripples in the Iowa Caucus given his extreme views on the gay community, abortion and other social issues.

On Dec. 7, 2011, CNN and Time predicted what Santorum’s poll numbers would be leading up to Iowa:

Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3: Gingrich (33 percent), Romney (20 percent), Paul (17 percent), Rick Perry (9 percent), Michele Bachmann (7 percent), Rick Santorum (5 percent) and Jon Huntsman (1 percent).

Mother of tuition… they were dead wrong! Well, they were right about Huntsman, but the grading is an “F” at best. Santorum was predicted at 5 percent in the polls, when in reality, he finished on top of Romney: Santorum, the one man they didn’t see coming. He’s become so popular that the Google term for Rick Santorum, the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex, is now number three in the search engine.

In the seldom-seen world that conspires against the United States, Santorum is making a difference in his campaign. In The Daily Beast, an article written by Patricia Murphy and Lloyd Grove found that Iowa voters want to see if they can find alternatives to Romney.

“Both physically and stylistically, Santorum embodies the anti-Romney,” Murphy and Grove said. “While Romney is imperially slim and sleekly attired (often in pressed jeans and a dress shirt), Santorum carries a notable paunch, which he often covers in a wooly sweater vest. Romney’s events can resemble corporate off-site meetings, while Santorum packs his people into coffee shops and senior centers, with no microphones set up and no schedule more important than a few more questions from the audience.”

Yes, the sweater vest: Santorum’s catnip to voters, because you can’t get enough sweater vest in your life. But many people in South Carolina have steered toward Romney and looked away from the hypnotic torso-coverer.

According to Politico, Romney garnered about 37 percent support of likely South Carolina voters in a poll conducted this week by CNN and Time, while Santorum only gained about 19 percent of voters.

So Romney, as the polls state, is in the lead. But the second-best Republican candidate is still Santorum. If Santorum wins and joins the Presidential race against Obama, Obama would win because the U.S., as a whole, cannot elect a man whose views are based on religious affiliation. If Romney is the candidate, it’s safe to say we don’t know who would win the race.

With all things considered, Santorum and his views are not what makes our country stronger ­— they’re what makes our country bound to ignorance and stereotypes.