Rick Santorum Regroups After Lack of Invite...

Rick Santorum, a long-suffering, low-polling GOP presidential candidate, is regrouping after failing to score an invite to Senator Jim DeMint's (R-SC) highly publicized Labor Day forum in Columbia, South Carolina. The forum is for candidates in the upcoming Republican presidential primary. Though Texas Governor Rick Perry, a clear frontrunner in the race, had to drop out due to the wildfires that are currently ravaging Texas, the event is still getting plenty of media attention. Santorum has arrived in South Carolina to campaign anyway, but was obviously stung by the lack of an invitation from Senator DeMint, probably more so considering how closely their politics mesh: "So Jim doesn't invite me--he invites Rudy Giuliani who is not a conservative and isn't even in the race?" he whined to reporters. "To me it just doesn't make any sense but my job is to continue and be in South Carolina on Monday."

Santorum is actually incorrect about former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani scoring an invite. Under the rules of the forum, only declared candidates may participate. Giuliani has not yet made a decision as to whether to throw his hat into the ring, so he will not be attending. This rule also excludes former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Things are just not looking good for Rick Santorum. The former Republican senator from Pennsylvania is not polling well at all in the early stages of the primary, which is the true explainer for his lack of an invitation: the Real Clear Politics polling average must be at least five percent--or rounded to five percent--in order to participate, and Santorum is polling at two percent. Without Perry, it looks like the DeMint forum will be the Mitt Romney and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) show; however, they will be joined by congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain. For his part, Rick Santorum will be 90 miles northwest of the event, marching in the Simpsonville Labor Day parade.

This hasn't been the first massive embarrassment of Rick Santorum's campaign to face-off against incumbent Democrat President Obama in the 2012 election. During the Fox News debate in Iowa preceding the Ames Straw Poll, he snapped at moderators that he wasn't getting enough airtime. Recently, he was the subject of a viral video because he made a bizarre claim that he was the victim of a "gay jihad." With the way his campaign is going, many are wondering why he hasn't dropped out of the race; however, this is American politics, and it's early yet. Anything can happen.