Rick Santorum's Sweater Vest May Win Him The Iowa Caucus (Poll)

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Will Rick Santorum’s lowly sweater vest help the former Pennsylvania Senator win tonight's Iowa caucus and go on to enter the presidential race as the Republican nominee for the highest ofice in the land?

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Amazingly enough, it’s quite possible.

Santorum saw a bump in his poll numbers after wearing a sweater vest  to Mike Huckabee‘s Iowa anti-abortion forum for the GOP presidential candidates. And he recently told radio host Laura Ingraham that since then the dowdy vest -- and he has several -- has been almost as important to his image and campaign as his positions on taxes, the deficit, and immigration.

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“That speech went over very, very well. If there was one event that really began the moment, it was that speech. And I think most people recognized that here, so all the sudden the sweater vest was like, ‘Fear the vest,’ ” Santorum said.

Ingraham admitted on Fox News this morning, “People find it endearing. They kind of like it.”

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Santorum's fearful vest even has its ownTwitter account, which you can follow at @FearRicksVest, and a tumbler page, a facebook page Fear Rick's Vest  and a catchy music video entitled “Sleeves Slow Me Down”’ extolling the virtues of the candidate wearing his grandfatherly garment. 

The Father Knows Best classic V-neck sweater vest is nothing if not practical. Keep in mind that it’s freezing in Iowa. And the sweater vest lets Santorum look like a regular guy and frees him from having to wear a stuffy sports coat or a snooty business jacket to keep warm. 

It’s also a way of ‘branding" himself and creating a heartwarming common man identity for the candidate. If he can embrace the sweater vest and take all the jokes, well, then he’s an OK guy, right?

We tried to get an interview with Rick's vest today but apparently, the garment is really busy tonight, what with the caucus and all. We hope the wooly menswear vest can make some time for us in the coming weeks. We have a lot of questions about the vest's positions on hangers (wire or wood) and Woolite vs. dry-cleaning and where it stands on moth balls.