Santorums Exit Like "The Sopranos"

Five years ago, a family that had captured the American imagination suddenly disappeared from TV screens with no real explanation, just as the current national soap opera, “The Santorums” abruptly ended yesterday.

They sit around a table, nothing untoward happens...and then fade to black. We had been mesmerized on the weekend by their daughter’s hospital stay, we were looking forward to the gang war in Pennsylvania, and suddenly it’s over.

Did something happen behind the scenes? Did the GOP dons make Santorum an offer he couldn't refuse? What happens next?

When “The Sopranos” ended in 2007, the show’s creator David Chase offered no rational explanation but his admirers recalled his musings about what is seen on the tube:

"Network television is all talk. I think there should be visuals on a show, some sense of mystery to it, connections that don't add up. I think there should be dreams and music and dead air and stuff that goes nowhere. There should be, God forgive me, a little bit of poetry."

Of all people, Rick Santorum has now added a touch of poetry to the 2012 talk marathon, but it’s not likely to be a big seller on DVD, like “The Sopranos.”

Update: A day later, Santorum provides his own explanation:

“We had for the first time in the campaign had a debt. The debt was, from my perspective, a little more substantial than I was comfortable with...In the last week after Wisconsin, we basically raised almost no money. We had solicitations going out, and people were just e-mailing back saying the race was over and you’ve got to join the crew.”

Spoken like a true conservative.