Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Input: With a week to go, Mitt Romney appears to be in good shape. But Iowa (as Nate Silver reminds us) can be highly volatile, and it’s certainly possible that Romney could finish as low as fifth there. Even if he finishes first or second, a surprise third-place (or second-place) finish by one of the current longshots might spark a surge for that candidate, just as Gary Hart’s distant second in 1984 was followed by his stunning upset of Walter Mondale in New Hampshire. What if it’s Rick Santorum who breaks into the top three? 
  
 I’ve been saying for some time now that it’s likely that the GOP nomination will go to a candidate who qualifies on two counts: He or she must have orthodox positions on policy issues important to conservatives, and he or she must also have conventional qualifications. Since late summer, only Romney and Rick Perry remain from a group that once included some seven or more plausible nominees, and so I’ve been saying that their combined chances of winning the nomination are very high. (I’ve usually floated a number around 95 percent or so.) 
  
 What of Santorum? 
  
 He certainly has orthodox conservative views. The reason I’ve written him off is that there are no successful presidential candidates in the modern era with a similar resume. Santorum was crushed in a bid for reelection six years ago. I can’t think of anyone else with a similar pattern who came anywhere near a nomination. Richard Nixon, of course, lost two elections and spent eight years in the wilderness, but a two-time vice president and former nominee is in a whole different league from a senator. For someone whose credential was statewide office to lose reelection and then bounce back and seriously contest the nomination would be something new. 
  
 And there’s good reason to believe that’s a systematic effect, not just luck. Party actors are unlikely to back someone like that for higher office because they don’t want to support a loser. Indeed, I’d guess that examples in lower offices (say, members of the House who lose their seats but then become senators) are quite rare, too. There may be one in the Senate right now, but I can’t think of any. 
  
 However, suppose that Santorum manages to rally to third place in Iowa, something that isn’t impossible to imagine. What then? It’s possible that conservatives who aren’t excited about Romney might look to him. And if he surged, then his main drawback – that there’s solid evidence that voters don’t like him very much – would suddenly look a lot less important. 
  
 Put it another way: We’ve seen what happens when the rest of the field surges (or, in some cases, simply shows up in the race). Large numbers of party actors have turned on Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, and have opposed Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman. Their problems, whether policy (in the cases of Paul and Huntsman) or trust (Gingrich and Bachmann), cannot be resolved by popularity among the rank and file. But Santorum’s, to some extent, perhaps can. 
  
 So while I think the candidate most likely to benefit from an unexpected strong finish in Iowa remains Perry — the only candidate who actually showed some strength among party actors during his surge — I’m fairly convinced that Santorum is the next most likely to benefit if he should get the Iowa bump. Basically, if Romney has to match up against Paul, Gingrich, Bachmann or Huntsman one on one after the early states, I think Romney is as close to a lock as you can get in politics. Against Perry? I have no idea. I guess I’d say that Romney would be the favorite against Santorum, but I’m not at all sure that he’d be an overwhelming favorite. Or, to put it one more way: If there’s a 5 percent chance that someone other than Romney or Perry gets the nomination, I’m increasingly inclined to think that most of that 5 percent belongs to Santorum. ||||| Rick Santorum said if he finished badly in Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses, he would drop out of the presidential race. 
  
  
  
 "If I finish dead last behind the pack I'm going to pack up and go home but I don't think that's going to happen," he said Tuesday on the Des Moines radio station WHO. 
  
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 The former Pennsylvania senator has been focusing his resources in Iowa and won endorsements from a number of the state's top conservatives, including its secretary of State, Matt Schultz (R), and Bob Vander Plaats, the head of the social conservative group The Family Leader. 
  
 He has been near the bottom in polls of the state, usually only topping Jon Huntsman, who is not competing in Iowa. 
  
  
  
 Santorum, who failed to make Virginia's presidential ballot, also criticized that state's requirements, saying the process is rigged toward candidates with the most money. 
  
  
  
 "It's weighted toward the candidates who have the most money to go and buy it," Santorum said. 
  
  
  
 Candidates were required to submit 10,000 signatures by Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. to make it on Virginia's ballot for the March 6th Republican primary. Only Ron Paul and Mitt Romney qualified. 
  
 Santorum had raised only a little more than a million dollars for this presidential bid, according to his third-quarter fundraising report. Fourth-quarter reports are due next month. 
  
  
  
 He wasn't the only candidate to criticize Virginia's system after failing to get on the ballot. Newt Gingrich's campaign director said Virginia's process is a "failed system" and compared the setback to the Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941. 
  
 “Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941,” campaign director Michael Krull wrote on the Gingrich Facebook page. “We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive action." 
  
  
  
 In the same interview, Santorum said that his campaign, through volunteers, was able to collect about 9,000 signatures but couldn't hit the 10,000 minimum. 
  
  ||||| 300 days ago 
  
 (CNN) - Rick Santorum is running hard to win next week's Iowa caucus, but the former Pennsylvania senator said Tuesday he wouldn't continue running if he placed last. 
  
 "If I finish dead last behind the pack I'm going to pack up and go home," Santorum said on the Iowa radio station WHO. 
  
  
  
 – Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker 
  
 He was quick to add he wasn't predicting failure. 
  
 "I don't think that's going to happen," Santorum said. "I think we're going to be very much in the mix and I feel very good that we're going to surprise a lot of people in how we finish." 
  
 Santorum, who has campaigned heavily in the Hawkeye State, is currently running at the back of the GOP race in Iowa. An American Research Group survey taken Dec. 19-22 shows him in last place among likely Republican caucus-goers at 4%. 
  
 Numbers like that don't bother Santorum, however. The candidate said Tuesday it was an opportunity to finish on an upswing. 
  
 "My feeling is we have to exceed expectations and you know, the expectations right now for us are pretty low based on a lot of national polls," Santorum said. "So I feel like we need to do well. We need to you know be right in the mix. Obviously we'd love to win it. Our intention is to win it and we're doing everything we can to try to finish first and you know, somewhere in that middle of the pack and up we feel very, very good." 
  
 Also see: 
  
 Potential Iowa GOP kingmaker conflicted about endorsing 
  
 Santorum hunts birds and serves up photo op 
  
 Perry touts part-time Congress pitch in new TV ad 
  
 CNN Exclusive: Newly recovered court files cast doubt on Gingrich version of first divorce |||||
Output:
He won't be accused of raising the bar too high, but Rick Santorum is nonetheless making a defiant pledge about the Iowa caucuses: "If I finish dead last behind the pack I'm going to pack up and go home," he tells radio station WHO, reports the Hill. Santorum has been running low in the polls from the start, but he's confident of avoiding a last-place embarrassment, notes CNN. "I feel very good that we're going to surprise a lot of people in how we finish." Click to read how one columnist thinks Santorum is due for a surge. And the Plum Line blog at the Washington Post says a third-place finish in Iowa is possible.