Meghan McCain ripped into Rick Santorum Wednesday on MSNBC, warning that he would stand no chance against President Obama.
"Santorum is on every level an unelectable candidate," she said. "I think for anyone the end goal should be beating President Obama. And if you want to put Santorum up against President Obama, I always say it's going to be an absolute bloodbath during the election cycle."
When asked whether Wednesday night's CNN debate would be Santorum's to lose, McCain said no on the basis that Romney is the frontrunner -- an assertion that looks less than solid in recent polls.
"No, it's Romney's to lose tonight," she said. "Romney's still the frontrunner. But I think this is going to be an ugly debate tonight. Santorum knows this is pretty much his last time to get national attention from everyone and he's probably going to act like a big child."
McCain has previously attacked Santorum over his opposition to gay marriage, calling his views "dated" and "gross." Again she predicted his demise in a general election match up against Obama.
"I guarantee he will lose," she said.
Earlier this month McCain called for Newt Gingrich to drop out of the race "for the good of the party."
"I think a lot of Democrats are just sitting back and laughing with popcorn at the cannibalizing that's going on right now," she said. "And I think it's unfair to Mitt Romney, and he [Gingrich] should be honorable, and I think he should bow out with grace, which probably won't happen."
If Newt does take Meghan's advice it may be no favor to Romney, according to a February 11 Public Policy Polling national survey:
The best thing Romney might have going for him right now is Gingrich's continued presence in the race. If Gingrich dropped out 58% of his supporters say they would move to Santorum, while 22% would go to Romney and 17% to Paul. Santorum gets to 50% in the Newt free field to 28% for Romney and 15% for Paul.
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Posted: 02/22/12 12:34 PM ET | Updated: 02/22/12 06:15 PM ET