I sure hope so!

Hat Tip: Instapundit – but I caught this video about Mia Love, who yesterday won a chance to topple six-term Dem representative in Utah, Rep. Matheson.

Definitely go see it! She speaks like Marco Rubio, and it’s one heck  of an engaging and charismatic way to give a speech! Comments in the Washington Times reflect that the speech itself put her over the top. Also, I remember reading about her in the National Review a few months ago – she has a Rubio-esque story to tell as well.

Man, fact is, outside of the top of the ticket these days, we (Conservatives/Republicans) have a lot of great people with great stories to tell. Christie Noem, Palin, Jindal, Rick Perry, Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Kelly Ayotte (Sen from NH), Gov. Susana Martinez of NM, Gov. Walker of Wisconsin, Gov. Jan Brewer of AZ. Rep. Allen West.

And the beautiful thing about all these folks are – they are competent. They are values oriented. They accomplish “big things.” And the bench is DEEP. Just look at Rebecca Kleefisch, the Lt. Gov of Wisconson, and the other up and comers like Mia Love.

This new crop of conservatives take our ideology right into the opponents identity politics back yard (and their only argument left) and puts a spear to the heart of the concept.

No, we do not choose our candidates based on race or sex, but the other side does. Why not beat them at their own game by putting forward competent alternatives to the gas-bags of the Left? And that’s what is happening, and this is one conservative who’s pretty dang excited about it.

As Mrs. Love says in her speech, we are the Shining City on the Hill – now let’s win us some more elections!

I have been very anti-Romney since Iowa. I absolutely loathed/hated/abhorred what he and his PAC stand-ins did to Newt in Florida. South Carolina proved that Newt was a contender and I still feel that the Establishment Right is forcing Romney down our throats.

Having said that – if the SCOTUS shuts down Obamacare, then Romney has a legitimate shot at winning the election.

Two other things happened this week. DeMint and Rubio. Well, and Rush’s comments and finally, Stephen F. Hayes’ article posted here. (I encourage you to read it; it helped change my mind, every so slightly, in regards to Romney…)

Here’s the deal. I don’t trust all that many politicians. I cannot STAND the nastiness of Romney’s team. However, I DO think he’s been burned, and burned badly by the media. I get this feeling that Romney has gone behind the scenes to the likes of DeMint and Rubio and said, “Hey guys, look. I can’t say what I’m going to do, because the Media is going to eat my lunch with it.  They did it in Massachusetts, and you know how nasty they are about my Mormonism as it is. But, whatever conservative bills you push across my desk as President, I will sign them. And I will nominate conservative Justices.”

I also think Rubio truly was impacted by Obama’s carelessness this week. Remember, this is a guy (Rubio) who has been more prominently impacted by Communism than anyone in the chamber, except McCain. Flippantly tossing out our extremely expensive missile defense matters.

So, what’s Romney’s plan? Duh. He was ring-side seated when it came to seeing how Obama was elected in this new modern age. Don’t tell the electorate what you really want to do. Line up the players ahead of time, and lay it all out after the voters have put you into office.

We just have to trust hope the people who are on the inside are right on their instincts.

When I say it must be 2012… I mean, crazy, end of the world, Nostradamus, et al 2012.

I live in Virginia. A state whose GOP saw fit to make it extremely difficult to get on the ballot. A state who even went so far as to disallow write-in campaigns for one election only – this one.

So, my guy(s) aren’t on the ballot – Perry nor Gingrich. So, yes, I cast a protest vote. I still “hope” that there will be “change” before November. That being Romney finally getting the picture and getting out of the race and the GOP straitening up and figuring out that we little people matter.

I am following the advice of Red State and I’m going to get involved. I’m going to find out how my local Republican precincts are set up, and though Fairfax County tends to be a Democrat stronghold these days, it wasn’t always so.

Be Breitbart.

I’ve always thought the R.I.P. thing was a little.. oh, I don’t know. Insufficient. I mean, as a Christian, I don’t really think of people as resting through eternity anyway, but rather, going to a “far, far better place” and all that. But with someone as pugnacious, vibrant, courageous, creative and motivated as Andrew Breitbart, I have a hard time thinking of him “resting” even after death.

Somewhere, this guy is looking down, probably cursing a bit, that the fight must go on, and he’s not there to do it. No doubt, he is missing the opportunities he would have had to spend more time with his young family. I know he must be at least somewhat gratified by the outpouring of support, since only someone as generous as he was can also appreciate such sentimentality.

I feel for his family, because, like him, I have four kids and a loving wife. I’m also 43. I’m a very part-time blogger, and a full-time IT guy, just making a living to make ends meet. But, I look at someone like him, a conservative rock star, as it were, and it reminds me of how much more I can do to live life to the fullest, to give more, to care more and to contribute more.

So, even in Andrew’s unfortunate and untimely death, he’s revealing and teaching Conservative thoughts to me and others and will, through the media he has set in motion, continue to do so for years to come.

Everytime I hear another goofy line dredged up as something that Santorum has said, I die a little bit inside. Bayer as birth control? (Yeah, I know it wasn’t him, but his backer, but Rick is just as bad…)

The only reason the MSM, Huffington, KOS, etc haven’t gone over Rick’s background is they figured there was no way in heck that the Repubs would nominate someone who so badly lost his last election. They just underestimated just how badly Conservatives detest Romney. When we’d all rather just take a toss of the dice on whatever may happen with a bunch of half-drunk delegates at the RNC, instead of go with Romney, or one of the other current stalwarts….yeah.

So, next time I’m in Vegas, I know what casinos I’m going to patronize! (Not that I’ve ever been.. but I’d like to someday!)

I still believe that Newt is able to put into words what I’m feeling about this country, this president and the world around us FAR, FAR better than Santorum or Romney. And if you think for a moment that words don’t matter, just look at Pres. Hopey Changey. (If you can stomach it.)

So, Mr. Adelson, THANK-YOU for keeping our hopes alive. If Newt can do well on Super Tuesday and take a large chunk of the South along for the ride, at the very least, we’ll have stymied Romney’s shot, which is about as best as we can hope for, at the moment. But hope springs eternal!

I mean, Ron Paul won the thing a few years ago, right? (After running off and finding out..)

Yes, he won last year and the year before. Romney won in the years 2007-2009. So, apparently, he’s familiar with what it takes to get votes there. That and the local Republican establishment is well represented there. I almost wish Ron Paul had shown up so his groupies could have shown the value of the straw poll there once again. (That is… a CPAC straw poll win and five bucks gets you a cup of coffee at Starbucsks.)

Oh, and According to Drudge, Romney has established himself as the frontrunner again, since he won in Maine, where apparently about five thousand people participated.

Hold on, I want you to get the full monty on this one. FIVE THOUSAND people delivered a large north eastern state. He had a bit over 2000 people to vote for him in Maine, and he walks away with the “win”.

I guess the stunning thing is that Maine even delivers delegates with so few votes. Or maybe there are only a couple of dozen Republicans in Maine. Who knows.

I guess the only positive aspect of an unfortunate death like Whitney Houston’s is that it actually makes more headlines than the false narrative that anyone actually wants Mitt Romney to be president.

The guy has the most unblemished conservative credentials. He’s also quietly (or not so, depending on  your perspective) built up a nice conservative PAC that has worked a large number of conservative politicians – many of whom owe some loyalty and are currently in Congress. I know it’s too late now, but I sure do wish he’d consider hopping in, should Romney not win by default.

We basically need someone at the Convention to win the nomination, since Romney and his team are going to lay waste to anyone who stands between him and the nomination. They’ve already rolled out a lot of attacks on Santorum, and expect some more. “INCOMING!!!!!”

Santorum, I’d watch your back. And head. And wear some Kevlar. Romney ain’t the saint he wants you to think he is.

Seriously. I like Gingrich – I actually think he’s a great American. He’s a leader who’s accomplished Big Things and he’s proven he can operate the machinery of government in uncanny ways. So, I’ll toss that out there right now. Would I rather a Ryan or a Perry or a Daniels or a Jindal? Yes. But, at this point, I will go with the one guy running who has cut taxes for real.

But Romney is unelectable. You cannot step on so many toes and expect to get elected. Just ask Newt Gingrich! Here’s the deal – Gingrich stepped on people’s toes in the name of Conservitism. He critiqued Reagan from the Right. He sometimes had to beat down his own side to get things done. Leaders do that at times.

Romney, on the other hand, is, to quote Pres. Clinton, practicing the politics of personal destruction. It’s ugly. I  hate it. His team gloats about literally destroying Gingrich. Not a fan of that type of gluttonous arrogance either.

I mean, here’s all this recent talk of religion, thanks to the National Prayer Breakfast – where’s the Christian attitude in what Romney’s doing? What, he says, “it ain’t beanbag” and that forgives the outright LIES from this guy?

At least when Gingrich feels like something goes too far, he yanks the ad. I actually respect that. It shows some flexibility, to say nothing of the fact that he doesn’t truly have the stomach for lying about a fellow Republican. You know, like what Reagan said, sorta kinda. (See: Reagan’s 11th Commandment).

I know, I’ve heard the argument that it shows that Romney is a “fighter”. Yeah, I’ve seen him or his surrogates spew lies about Gingrich, pushing the meme that he’s unstable or whatever. Yeah, right.  It’s no wonder that Newt’s ticked. He’s built a worthy legacy, one that Romney can only envy, and Romney wants to destroy it. All in the pursuit of a presidency he can’t win.

Hey Romney! The Press is lying to you! The Independents aren’t going to vote for you.

Romney spent $17M in ads in Florida? I another RCP headline says that turnout was down by 200K?

Why? Do the freaking math. That much negativity doesn’t just disappear over night – it’s not going to be all forgotten come November. This is irreparable damage being done to the Brand, as Sarah Palin says. Say what you like about the lady, but she’s got keen political instincts. Far more of her candidates won in 2010 than lost.

Had Romney NOT run all the negative ads in Iowa, and basically turned his cannons on his won side, I’d be far more inclined to back him in the Fall. At this point, the best thing he can do to help the party is leave the race.

But why do people respond to them so much?

Maybe it’s just me, as a political junky, who is actually paying attention, and I am rip-roaring mad about the negative ads. Maybe Florida voters are light weights, I don’t know. Perhaps, the early voting efforts by Mitt’s machine made the difference.

According to Kantor Media, 92% of the ads in Florida were negative. Jeez. Seriously guys?

From the referenced article:

The Romney campaign is already training its sights on Gingrich. Former congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich, who was a member of Gingrich’s House GOP leadership team, told Nevada reporters that the former House speaker is “very cocky, arrogant,unreliable.”

 

Great. So, another ______ congresscritter who doesn’t like Gingrich. Great! So, why does that make Romney the least bit more compelling. Suddenly, that four years as a liberal governor isn’t much of a story, so yeah, let’s destroy the other guy, regardless of who it is.

Why is the Republican establishment so misguided? Does living in NYC and DC blind you to what’s happening in the rest of the country? What am I stupid? Obviously, it does.