Pawlenty Finished Third and Quit; Santorum Finished Fourth and ...

A fund-raising email sent by Rick Santorum in late July predicted that the Iowa Straw Poll would be "our first real test." And even though he finished fourth, does Santorum still believe he passed?

The former Pennsylvania senator might feel added pressure to explain staying in the race given that the third-place finisher, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, quit because of disappointing results. Pawlenty said he couldn't see a path toward winning the Republican nomination after Michele Bachmann seemed to harness the social conservative vote with her first-place finish.

Still, Santorum gave it his best spin in an email to supporters this weekend.

"Today in Iowa has been a victory for America's moral foundation!" Santorum wrote after the straw poll results were announced. "Many predicted that I would come in dead last, but I surprised the political chattering class by coming in 4th place."

Ahead of votes being cast, Iowa governor Terry Branstad succinctly described what would happen next.

"It's not just who wins it, it's about who beats expectations," he said of the straw poll.

But it's hard to say where Santorum had hoped to finish. Mitt Romney made it clear he wasn't even trying to win the straw poll, so where he finished was ultimately unimportant. The same can't be said of Santorum. It sure didn't sound like Santorum was aiming for fourth in an email he sent to supporters in late July while hosting a month's worth of town halls across the state.

"Our first real test is the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll on August 13th and the stakes are high," Santorum wrote to supporters July 28. "The eyes of the nation, the media and the White House will be fixed squarely on Iowa -- where the Straw Poll results will give America an idea of who's leading the pack early in the Republican primary season."

Santorum obviously isn't leading the pack, but he isn't showing signs of exiting the race either. The self-described "courageous conservative" has ramped up attacks on Texas governor Rick Perry, a new entrant in the race and new competitor for the socially conservative mantle. Perry had been tripped up earlier this month by a question about marriage equality's passage in New York, saying he is OK with states making their own decisions on the issue while also supporting amending the U.S. constitution to ban gay marriage. It's a similar position to one outlined by Bachmann.

"When we have people who say states have the right to pass gay marriage, I say, 'No, they do not,'" Santorum reportedly told a crowd in Waterloo, Iowa, that appeared to have come mostly to see Bachmann and Perry.