Just a day or so after winning the Iowa caucuses, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania stood at the podium in New Hampshire arguing with a college student about his view on same-sex marriage.

Clearly, someone forgot to tell Mr. Culture Warrior that the presidential election in 2012 will be won by the candidate who can articulate a strong economic message.

That is not to say that social issues won't play well in the Republican primary battle. Santorum has received the backing of influential social conservatives. But as his recent losses in Arizona and Michigan attest, the economy — and nothing but the economy — is what voters care about.

For a moment, I thought Santorum had gotten the message and was going to stick to his blue-collar, working-class narrative.

But in the past couple of weeks, he has decided to make a huge deal out of women and contraception, Satan and America, and any other kind of issue that can quickly detract from a candidate's campaign. Nothing topped his calling President Barack Obama a "snob" for wanting the nation's youth to go to college.

Talk about clueless!

What looked as if it would be a big upset over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Michigan turned into a Santorum loss (although they essentially split the delegates). Now Santorum is trying to recalibrate his message after blowing a chance to wound his top rival severely.

Santorum is like that person we all have known over the years; he can't get out of his own way.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a candidate's speaking about morals and values. But when you can't even recognize what the voters have made clear they care about in a primary, how in the world could you be trusted with the title of commander in chief?

Look, I continue to believe that the GOP primary battle will take us all the way to a fractured convention. The path to the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination is fraught with peril for Romney. He still isn't trusted by the most conservative Republicans, and his constant flip-flopping is of epic proportions. (Dude, you didn't understand the question about the Blunt amendment? Yeah, right!)

But when you have former House Speaker Newt Gingrich essentially turned into an afterthought — thanks to his own grandiose mouth — and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas trying to fight the good fight with a small but loud constituency, the only hope left for the GOP is for Santorum to step up and make a direct challenge to Romney.

If I were a betting man, I would put a dollar on Santorum to do that. He is simply an erratic politician who acts as if he has attention-deficit disorder. Contrast that with Mr. Efficiency (and boring) Romney and you're leaving voters with little choice in choosing the sure thing.

With nine states going to the polls on Super Tuesday, Santorum has a chance to right the ship. But he is going to have to take wins in several of the states voting, which include Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee and Alaska.

But where he must make a major stand is Ohio. Come November, it's a battleground state, and Santorum has to show he is able to beat Romney in a critical state.

The only way that could happen is if Santorum were to beat his mouth and brain into submission. Otherwise, he's going to look back and wonder what would have happened if he could have stayed focused.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and author of the book "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as Originally Reported by Roland S. Martin." Please visit his website at RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.