NASHUA, N.H. — Rick Santorum didn’t do Marco Rubio any favors when, in his first appearance as a Rubio endorser, he couldn’t name his former rival’s Senate accomplishments. But if Santorum lost Rubio any votes with that awkward TV appearance, he may be repaying Rubio, in a quiet way, by bringing former Santorum supporters, specifically those deeply motivated by the issue of life, into the Rubio camp.

Like Jim and Valerie Somers, who came to Rubio’s election-eve rally Monday at Nashua Community College. For Valerie especially, life is the most important issue, and both she and her husband supported Santorum in 2012 and earlier in this campaign. “I started moving away from Santorum right after Iowa,” Valerie told me before the Rubio rally. “I saw his numbers dwindling and thought we don’t want to waste our vote.” When Santorum threw his support to Rubio, it helped confirm Jim and Valerie’s inclination to support the Florida senator.