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A Big, Big Win for Santorum . . . Errr . . . CPAC

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  February 8th, 2012 at 04:46 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Mitt Romney had a horrible, horrible night. Early yesterday, Mitt Romney’s campaign called Missouri a “beauty contest” and said to focus on Colorado. We did. Wow.

I’ve said since Sunday that yesterday would be the first day of voting that Mitt Romney’s “poor” comment to Soledad O’Brien would have an impact. It typically takes a week for comments like that to be digested by voters. Six days after Romney opened his mouth, Rick Santorum swept the night.

From Missouri to Minnesota to Colorado the Republican electorate sent a very clear signal — they want conviction over electability. They do not like Mitt Romney. They see Santorum as authentic. They see Mitt Romney as a fraud. Rick Santorum swept the races. Romney, the front runner, got crushed by conservatives.

The pattern has held up from Iowa to South Carolina to Florida to Nevada to last night. In every county that saw increased turn out, Not Romney won. In counties with decreased turnout, Romney won most often, but not always.

The real winner last night is CPAC – the conservative political action conference. At the end of this week, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich will, in that order, address the crowd. Conservatives in the heartland last night rejected Mitt Romney as inauthentic. CPAC will be a must win speech for Romney.

Considering how often Mitt Romney has lost in the past decade, you’d think he would have given a better concession speech last night. He did not and will need to up his game for his CPAC speech. He must now seriously woo the conservatives he thought he would not need.

But what of Romney vs. Santorum? My prediction is that Romney has nothing to lose and will go negative. He will suddenly become as noxious as his supporters are on twitter and in the Washington Post. It will backfire on him. He will seem Newtish and Newt’s recent complaints about Romney’s negativity will be looked at anew.

Gingrich is a big loser after last night. But I think the untold story is just how terrible Ron Paul did. He had a caucus strategy that has failed across the board. He has won no states. His strategy is failing him.

What a night.

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COMMENTS

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  • janvones

    Well, well, mirabile dictu, your preferred candidate, The Sweet Meteor of Death, (or a close facsimile thereof) has just swept Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota. What a hoot! Not sure this is my preferred route or thine, but it sure beats the coronation of Mitt “to the left of Bill Clinton” Romney! I could even clench my hind-netherbiots and vote for this guy over Romney. Still hoping for a Cain/Gingrich ticket, but anything beats Romeny.

  • haners

    But I would have to be honest with you, it’ll be like voting for a socially conservative blue-collar Democrat, a Reagan Democrat so to speak.

    I’m not pleased to vote for a guy who voted against the repeal of Davis-Bacon and have time and time again punted on E-Verify, but I will hold my nose in November. Obama’s foreign policy has been a disaster and his war against religious freedoms unconscionable.

    But don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining by saying Santorum is a true conservative or the man who supported Arlen Specter is a Tea Partier.

  • PatriotForLiberty

    Erick, you are so right with this post in every way, from the 6 days it takes for news to get to voters to the victory for CPAC. The media keeps trying to tell us this is over (although I’m not sure why; don’t they get bigger ratings if there’s not a winner?), but thanks to you, loyal conservatives across our great nation and RedState the Romney machine is getting just what it deserves.

    I totally agree with your previous sentiments about Santorum and concerned about his record of big spending, but looking at the mix he may well be our only hope. Erick, maybe you can write the same kind of brilliant post encouraging Gov. Perry to drop out of the race to Newt? If Santorum picked up the Gingrich voters, that might be the knockout that finally declaws Mittens and gives us a real chance this Fall. A more hopeful day today! :)

  • http://www.RayJuniorShow.com/ rayjuniorshow

    is summed up here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RX8IGXGVqdo

  • romansdaughter

    thinks he doesn’t need those Bible thumping, foaming at the mouth, branding pitchforks (which by the way sounds like the Dems and Obama spiel) to win. I got news for him..he does need them and that is why if he gets primaries he would lose to Obama. So sorry I am being a little gleeful right now. LMHO

  • georgehenry85

    derp derp derp RON PAUL

    There are only 2 conservatives in the race for the GOP. Santorum and Ron Paul. The biggest difference is Forigen policy!

    Let the GOP choose an large, isolationist, pro sanctions, pro forigen aid, wars of aggression and policing the world, spreading Americas military far and wide acrosse forigen borders. rick santorum’s” forigen policy!

    Or

    Let the GOP choose a concervative, humble, anti sanctions, strong diplomatic relations, 0 forigen aid and a strong national defence around American boarders “ron paul’s” forign policy

    Let’s put those on the table for the GOP to decide, my guess is rick santorum’s policy will win it everytime. We are not ready for peace time we need more war to keep the economy strong and protect are national security!

    Ron Paul is trying for peace! Haha what a fool!

  • 6t9boss

    I have said along that the The Establishment-Liberal GOP and the Carl Rove RINO’s are under estimating the fury that exsists within the Conservative wing of this party and Romney after his win in fla. started running and sounding just like McCain.
    Gingrich for all his wisdom is toast and it looks like Conservatives have latched onto Rick. Any way you look at it Romney IS NOT going to get Conservatives on board AND the “Precious Down Ticket” will fail.

    Now Let’s watch Carl, Anne, and the Establishment destroy Rick! It’s coming and long with it another log to throw on the BONFIRE that is burning in the Conservative wing.

  • mikelindell2

    Yeah, big-government-nanny Rick or impostor Mitt. I hope Newt can find his footing one last time. I’ll take someone who makes poor couch seating decisions and has had some personal problems decades ago over those other faux conservatives. At least I know when Newts gets into power he governs like a conservative

  • joereagan

    Is becoming clear. The “Republican establishment” doesn’t see it, and politically engaged conservatives like the ones who post here don’t always see it either. I think the latter group is getting too focused on minutiae and failing to think strategically — not seeing the forest for the trees.

    The most important story of the entire nomination process so far is voter turnout. Who is turning out to vote in Republican primaries, and who are they voting for? As Erick points out in his piece, whenever turnout is up, Romney loses. Whenever it’s down, he wins.

    This is a continuation of trends that have been evident for years. The number of people identifying as independents has been going up, and party loyalty has been going down. The number of people calling themselves conservatives has been rising, and is now not only double the number calling themselves liberals, but has surpassed moderates to become a plurality.

    Those trends were clearly in evidence in 2006 and 2008, and with the emergence of the Tea Party movement, and the elections in 2009 and 2010. The conservative plurality of society first grew disgusted with the Republican Party and stayed home, then it rose up, independent of the Republican Party, and stopped the march of the Democrats.

    The most important voting bloc in America today are those conservative independents. People who are philosophically conservative, but grown so disgusted with the Republican Party that they cannot be considered reliable Republican voters. When they feel they have someone to vote for, as they did in South Carolina, they rise up, flood the polls, and deliver victory. When they feel they have no one to vote for, they stay home.

    The Republican establishment does not understand that they must go out and convince conservative independents to vote for them. They think they’re still reliable party loyalists who will show up no matter what to vote against Obama. It didn’t happen in 2006 or 2008. It won’t happen in 2012 if the Republican nominee is not someone they can enthusiastically support.

    Which leads to the bottom line, that should be obvious now to everyone: Mitt Romney is a candidate with a very narrow appeal. He appeals solely to people like himself: wealthy, moderate Republicans. He has extremely limited appeal to conservatives, who (I will say it again for those who don’t get it) outnumber moderates among the population as a whole.

    Obama energizes the Democrat base, and he always will. He is one of the most liberal presidents we’ve ever had, and he is the first minority president. Regardless of his failures in the eyes of the left, they will go to the mat for him. If Mitt Romney wins the middle, but conservatives stay home, he will lose badly.

    The Republican Party has got to realize that it has lost the loyalty of conservatives. If there is no conservative candidate to vote for, they won’t vote. In other words, Mitt Romney has been named Employee of the Month by the management of a restaurant that’s going out of business.

  • joereagan

    The other area where the “Republican establishment” is blind is swing voters. They look at things in ideological terms, assume that swing voters are moderates, and think that “triangulation” is the recipe to winning their votes. They’re wrong. Swing voters are non-ideological. They want results, and they don’t care where the results come from on the left-right ideological spectrum. If the prescriptions of the left don’t seem to be working, they’ll throw them out and try the right, and vice versa.

    Simply put: if the formulation of the Republican establishment and all of the political strategists inside the Beltway was correct, Ronald Reagan would never have won massive landslides. He would have never stood a chance at all. Voters gave him a chance because the left and the political establishment as a whole had failed. They are now in a similar mindset, and the opening for a repeat of 1980 has never been greater. To a lesser extent, the same thing happened with Obama in 2008.

    Among all of Obama’s unpopular policies, Obamacare is the most unpopular. There is a broad national consensus against it. And the Republican Party is trying to nominate its author, Mitt Romney.

  • mikelindell2

    Arlen Specter. Anti-right-to-work, big spending, prodigious earnarker, Bridge to Nowhere, SOPA supporting, lower ACU rating than Newt. Rick is symbolic of when Republicanism lost its way. Definitely not a small government conservative, no matter how he tries to portray himself. BTW, Paul is a libertarian, NOT a conservative.

  • chadosborne

    Watching Romney lose these tiny states may give the anti-Romneys great satisfaction for a day or two, but the reality is that the odds of anybody being able to overtake Romney are now greatly diminished.

    Santorum will now stay in the race and will split the anti-Romney vote until the very end. Romney just took another step towards winning the nomination.

    At some point people should come to their senses and realize that the attacks on Romney at this point only benefit Obama.

    There will be no brokered convention, no open convention, no new candidate entering the race. All the anti-Romneys have left is Newt and Santorum, and the only thing they have in common is their inability to compete in large states. If they cannot win, their efforts to tarnish the eventual nominee will obviously only help Obama. They might as well join the Obama reelection campaign. They are the ultimate RINO’s.

  • egl2000

    Good for Rick – but how is the ‘game played’?

    So how many delegates did he win last night?

    What was the dollar spend by each candidate last night? That will tell the tale of the tape. Who cares and who does not.

    Do these states matter in the final analysis?

    Wash DC will eviscerate an idealist – the press will EAT him alive – Santorum’s support will fall to 30-35% (only us hard right conservatives) – every moderate republican (curses to them) will abandon him instantly. And as they leave him more will fallow quickly – that is how the political crowd keeps their seats.
    Santorum, whose ideals I agree with completely – also has not had the “press attack” yet. Just watch NBCMSNBCCBSABCPBSCNNNPRWASHPOSTETC over the next 7 days to the serpent strike.

  • Juggernaut

    As an investor anyone knows when a candidate gets fewer votes in 2012 vs 2008 is a sign of implosion. Those states are not little, but Romney’s ideals are little as is his pathetic position on the poor. People are walking away from him to other candidates.

    Romney chose to violate Reagan’s Rule and we are going to destroy him. Watch the video where Romney says all the attacks on him make him stronger to take on Obama………and you’re worried. You should be because the attacks are going to intensify till he’s destroyed, so screw Romney.

    Romney is the ultimate RINO who hates gun ownership, gave us Planned Parenthood and he offers very little to conservative voters.

  • Juggernaut

    him to the center right while demanding he cut. I like Newt over Rick but Mitt is in my opinion 4th choice. I wouldn’t like Ron Paul but at least he’s right of Mitt.

  • Juggernaut

    working as people across the country read emails and twitter links with Romney criticisms. Every bit helps, he’s imploding and the pace is accelerating. Money can’t buy the White House with Grass Roots intervention online.

  • chadosborne

    If you think a lot of great things were achieved when Newton was speaker, then Bill Clinton is your man.

    The conservatives tried to fire Newt 3 years into his speakership but failed. The man was already sitting on Clinton’s couch long before he moved to the Soros funded Pelosi couch. Reagan said he was dangerous for a reason.

  • tngal

    Obviously since all of our current candidates will be speaking, I can’t imagine another speaker getting to the podium and calling for brokered while on stage. It would show no confidence. But I am curious if attendees and some of the other speakers might discuss it amongst themselves while mingling. As you will be a speaker, we natch expect a full behind the scenes reports.

  • nepanyrush

    Santorum is an authentic, principled conservative, and he holds himself to the highest moral standards. He is a person on honesty, sincerity, and integrity. Any effort at negativity will backfire. As Rush said yesterday (paraphrasing) , “Now they are trying to define Santorum as a big government type? He is the person in the race with the least baggage as far as being a conservative.”

    Santorum is actually a great candidate. The Democrats tried to get rid of him as a Congressman by redistricting such that the new district had a 7-term Democratic incumbent and a 3-1 Democratic to Republican Ratio. 75% Demlcrats to 25% Republicans and a Democratic incumbent and Santorum still won. Then he won in Democrat controlled PA. The fact is Santorum appeals to the Reagan Conservatives and particularly the Catholics. He will be very formidable against Obama.

    On another plus not, Santorum has always been a person who campaigns on issues, not name calling like Newt’s “Romney is a liar” mantra. Thus, he will elevate the discussion to conservatism versus liberalism, not drag down and make the voters disgusted with all the GOP candidates.

  • circlegranch

    El Paso County, ,Colorado, carried Santorum over the finish line in fine style, lead by Dr. James Dobson. In precinct caucus after precinct caucus, especially in El Paso Co, voters adopted resolutions refuting Obama’s mandate to force faith-based employers to purchase birth control and fund abortions. As citizens stood up in high school gyms to have a chance to support a candidate or speak out about an issue, this particular issue was red hot.

    In the final 12 hours before voting in Colorado, Romney began robo calls talking about family values. His final rallies in the state were laced w/ rhetoric first espoused by Rick Perry, then taken up by Newt Gingrich and hammered home by Rick Santorum: religion and faith are under attack by this Administration; there is war against the Christian faith, especially. Whether its immigration, state’s rights, and now preserving our First Amendment rights regarding religion, Romney is always late to the table. He waits until other candidates test drive an issue and if it sells, he adopts it…or at least that’s the impression in El Paso County. When Romney rallied in Colorado Springs on Saturday, his event was sponsored by a manufacturing firm that rec’d over $2 million in stimulus funds, an action of the Obama Admin that Romney has staunchly criticized. His hypocrisy did not go unnoticed and among the 1000 or so (McCain drew 5000 in the same town on a primary stop) that showed up, the general concensus as folks were leaving was that while he’ll probably be the nominee, they didn’t feel he’s geniune, but rather a political opportunist. When he fired Michelle Bachmann’s debate coach because the coach was getting too much credit for Romney’s performances in FL, a red flare was sent up over Pikes Peak that there’s something almost maniacial about this man that wants to be president alot more than he recognizes the emergency of America. As one precinct meeting had finished business and neighbors visited before heading out into the cold night, it was overheard that the plan between Team Romney and the RNC to move up as many early races as possible to lock the nomination for him quickly blew up in Colorado. The mask has long ago been pulled off and fly-over country voters aren’t quite as stupid and politically ignorant as GOP leadership wishes we were.

    Some here at RS were adamant yesterday that the Centennial State was a slam-dunk for Romney. So much for polling. The voice of the people is always the poll that matters. Romney didn’t just finish 2nd, he lost a ton of votes from 2008, and not just in CO but MN and MO, as well.

    As pointed out in this post, Romney’s campaign referred to last night’s contests as ‘beauty contests’. Coincidentally, Karl Rove used the same expression over and over last night on Fox, but coincidence it must be, as there is NO Republican establishment collusion between Romney’s campaign and elitists in the media, right?

    If Romney wants to win, he will need to figure out a way to convince voters that he’s not a sore loser. When an opponent has a good night, his response shouldn’t be bashing and attack. He needs to give us a reason to support him beyond, “I love America. I can create jobs.” In the final hours before voting started in Colorado, he figured out that values and faith matter, especially when they are under attack by the HHS and the president. Romney skipped the Family Values Thanksgiving Forum. He has thus far not spoken much about his faith. His supporters scream that his Mormonism should not only not be an issue, it shouldn’t even be mentioned. He has to revamp that approach because last night proved that Americans are very afraid of losing their First Amendment rights. Our nominee will have to have a strong and clear voice about faith and the role it plays in our daily lives. If Romney relies on paraphrasing and borrowing rhetoric from other candidates, he will have to develop a sincerity. We love America, too.

  • chadosborne

    Romney ran unopposed in CO and MN fours years ago. He was in the same position that Santorum is now, desperately looking for a win somewhere to be able to justify staying in the race after losing Florida.

    McCain was focused on the delegate rich states and Huck was campaigning in the South. The dynamics were completely different.

    The voters decided to reward Santorum for campaigning in their state. That’s all there is to it. He spent time there while Romney and Newt were beating each other to death in Florida and Nevada.

    Newt is in trouble now. He’ll have trouble raising money and he’s already in debt. He would have been better off if Romney had won, because it would have driven Santorum out of the race.

  • lizfstone

    “The Republican Party has got to realize that it has lost the loyalty of conservatives. If there is no conservative candidate to vote for, they won?t vote. In other words, Mitt Romney has been named Employee of the Month by the management of a restaurant that?s going out of business.”

  • gmscan

    You mean Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota? Tiny? Not like New Hampshire, eh? Pathetic.

  • haners

    and their importance and how Obama has been going after them in his NV acceptance speech.

    What he lacked was a sense of urgency to follow that up and pound it in.

  • haners

    He does need the base, but the base wasn’t going to give it to him.

    Romney didn’t go out of his way to distance himself from the Tea Party. He supported, financially contributed and campaigned for Christine O’Donnell and Rubio in 2010.

    The only one being gleeful right now is Obama as he contemplates at least two radical Marxist Supreme Court Justices that he’s going to get to appoint in the next five years.

  • lizzie

    the myth that Obama “energizes the Democrat base” which Pelosi- Obama-Reid have shrunk by rejecting the fiscal conservatives (Blue Dogs) who gave the Dems their majorities in 2006 and 2008.

    2012 is about jobs, debt, and, I do agree on repeal of PPACA, but, as a fiscal conservative, I also still want all of the Bush43 tax cuts to expire as planned – the expiration date was included in case all those budget “supluses as far as the eye can see” failed to go away.

    The DNC is already planning to use mostly women in statewide Senate contests to drive voter-turnout with perhaps the Dems only meaningful “base”: women.

    See New York 2010 for how the Dems will use “protecting women’s reproductive rights” to drive female voter turnout to sweep statewide contests when there was less than zero enthusisam for the gubernatorial contest..

    I repeat:
    Obama has negative coattails,
    Romney has zero coattails,
    but, alas, Santorum is Obama’s dream opposition.

    I guess Virgina will be the real test of how Romney drives down voter turnout…

    Just as a reminder to people under 50. Ronald Reagan was already a nationally known figure, from his acting and radio career. And most voters knew that Reagan had also been a liberal Democrat and union president, so he was not seen as a demagogue on ‘social issues’.

    Still, always nice to have Romney lose three on a slow news day and hoping to hear Rick Perry’s CPAC comments tomorrow.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    The stink of Newt’s dirty laundry has finally reached the nostrils of voters down wind. Romney the Man of Plastic is not connecting with people. I know Erick is no fan of Santorum but I think, on balance, Rick is the most conservative guy in the race. This isn’t a movie and Ronald Reagan isn’t going to emerge from the ruble of a brokered convention to save the day.

    I cringe when I hear people say electabillity is not important. You are victims of the Political Entertainment Industry. You have been lulled into thinking it’s all politics as usual. America will not survive 4 more years of Chairman Obama. He will get to pick 1 or 2 Supremes and then the Left will have the power to jam through whatever they want.

    I hope that Santorum can strengthen his platform and show people he can defeat Chairman Obama. I could live with that.

  • gator_hoo

    Iowa, Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota are all larger than NH or NV.

  • http://www.firstchevalier.com Mark Malcolm

    Santorum is not a conservative. He’s Romney without the baggage of being rich or having authored socialized medicine. I don’t like any of the candidates left in the filed, but for the general Romney will have all his attacks blunted because he did the same things Barry did only on a smaller scale.

    Santorum on the other hand can attack those policies cleanly and effectively, and he CAN GET ELECTED. Newt and Romney will loose segments of the republican base due to their baggage that Santorum doesn’t carry. I haven’t made up my mind yet but I’m liking Rick’s surge.

    Oh, and Ron Paul, who is as desperate to hold onto his power as any establishment republican ever was should gracefully retire from the race at this point IF he is truly interested in seeing a republican beat Obama. If he’s planning a third party run, then he’s an accomplice to Barack Hussein Obama’s second term.

  • edintexas

    Assuming no others get into the campaign on a brokered convention (an unlikely scenario), no matter which one wins Conservatives will be holding our nose when voting for President. All have their warts when it comes to Conservative principles, some more than others. As the possessor of the fewest Conservative principles, of the contenders, Romney will have the hardest sell needed to bring Conservatives to have a shred of enthusiasm for the vote.

  • gator_hoo

    Which pretty much proves the point you were trying to go against.

  • http://www.firstchevalier.com Mark Malcolm

    this time if we don’t hold our noses we get a country-destroying socialist who has NOTHING to hold him back for four years (assuming we cannot maintain control of the house and senate for that period of course).

  • mikelindell2

    Santorum is authentic, authentic big gov’t “conservative”

  • http://www.firstchevalier.com Mark Malcolm

    and I’ve been one of those conservatives who has said in the past, right here on Redstate, that I will NEVER again hold my nose and vote for a moderate that was rammed down our throat. I’ve still not acquiesced to compromising my principles on this, but I also do not like the prospects of a general election between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.

    I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do right now, and if there is a third party candidate (i.e. The Donald or Ron Paul) it will all be moot. That thankfully will free me from the decision to do as my conscience dictates because a third party candidate is a guarantee of another four years, imo.

  • mikelindell2

    Yeah he was lowly speaker of the house, what an unimportant position in government. bill clinton was forced to do what he did by newt. I assume you read ann coulter; your logic aligns with hers. BTW, what other leader ever gave us a balanced budget or entitlement reform?? Go on, talk about a couch….

  • darthvader

    I agree , that Mitt is not a conservative , not in the strict sense of the word.
    He could have Vetoed the Mass health care bill and forced the senate to
    Override his veto. Now the state has one of the highest health care
    Costs in the nation. Health care is a privilege, not a right.

    The overwhelming issue this year is that Newt is by far the best candidate.
    I however, make that statement with tongue in cheek hoping all the
    Time that a new Republican candidate will emerge.

    Rick is a wimp. He was beaten badly by Casey and Casey is himself a
    ?right to Life? proponent. I have , and will always be conservative
    But I truly believe that the religious right Co-opted the
    Conservative movement many yeas ago. A woman?s right to
    Choose , abortion, should never be part of any political platform.
    To coin a phrase: ?it?s the economy stupid?.
    Where was the religious right when ?Obamcare? was passed ?
    Where was the religious right when ?Cap and Trade? was
    Introduced. Where was the religious right when Boeing was
    Harassed by the NLRB. I could go on and on. However, when
    Components of Obamcare require religious institutions to
    Supply contraceptives, Christ they are all over the news rallying
    The troops. Logically, you would think that if you are opposed
    To abortion, then you should logically support the use of
    Birth control , that is, unless there is another agenda at play.
    The primary purpose of marriage is companionship, not
    Procreation.

    If Rick is our candidate, then I will just stay home. Rick should
    Just return to Pennsylvania. I live in Pa., and he was not a very
    Efficient Senator while he served.

    Newt has the best chance of winning a debate with Obama.
    Newt is not perfect. He has many flaws however he has the
    Best chance of beating Obama in November.

    Ron Paul , while I do agree with many of his austerity programs:
    Bringing our troops home, closing bases, reforming entitlements,
    I however, don?t believe that we should legalize drugs. We have enough
    Problems in this country, so lets not add to them. Many people
    View him as some sort of ?Looney Tune? character. Unfortunate,
    Because he has many ideas that should be adopted by the GOP.

    So, from my perspective, it is either Newt or Mitt .

    I keep thinking, is this the best we can do ???

    Take care.

    Art

  • mikelindell2

    A record of not doing in MA what obama is doing nationally in regards to religious liberty.

  • haners

    with a Santorum nomination, since fiscally Santorum might as well be a Democrat. The two would be on opposite sides of the spectrum both socially and fiscally. Obama might actually touch both in the middle.

  • steeltube

    Excellent post.

    The nominee is (for better or worse) going to be Romney. The longer that folks stay in “denial” about that fact, the worse chance we have of winning the White House in 2012.

    All aboard! The train is leaving the station. It’s time to get on the “Beat Obama Express” and help it to it’s destination. Alternatively, you can stay on the platform and wait for the next train to arrive. My schedule shows that is four years from now.

  • acat

    Go look at how many electoral college votes are in play.

    Sure, Colorado or Minnesota or Missouri are larger than New Hampshire, but they’re not exactly “big”, eh?

    Mew

  • Juggernaut

    and he lost in 2 races with less than half the votes of 2008 and one race he only got one third the votes. People are learning he isn’t electable just as 2008.

    Santorum won on more than just campaigning and you know it, excuses excuses. Santorum’s campaign ideals were superior to the Romulan who also spent time in CO and MN and you know it. Time is only one factor, people are learning what a mistake Mitt is.

    Money is only one factor and money can’t sell enough lies for Americans to give a damn what the moderate has to say.

    The video says it loud and clear……Romney shall tax the hell out of Americans. They call him Fee fee for a reason.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Puci1IXk2TU

  • Juggernaut

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Puci1IXk2TU

  • chadosborne

    I was referring to the number of delegates in play.

    In these 3 states this year, only a small number of delegates are bound to the results of the caucus.

    All the other delegates are free and if history is any guide they tend to go to the front runner of the race.

    Back in 2008, Romney won the Colorado caucus but the delegates were not bound to these results and at the state convention they all went to McCain:

    http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/CO-R.phtml

    Santorum only won a total of 22 delegates in these 3 states yesterday. In South Carolina alone Newt won 23.

  • acat

    Gary Johnson is also a fiscal conservative and has already sewn up the Libertarian nomination.

    Ron Paul, should he decide to go third party, would have to build his own organization rather than borrowing one that, while shaky, already exists in most States.

    It’s only sorta good news, though, because Johnson is much more sane than Ron Paul on most issues….

    Mew

  • joereagan

    The Republicans nominated McCain, Bush passed TARP, conservatives stayed home, Obama won.

  • acat

    He had 14 on Monday, he has 14 today.

    Perhaps Romney didn’t compete because Romney knew it didn’t matter except in the “image” department…?

    Mew

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    Voted for Medicare Part D as an unfunded, universal benefit with no regard with to the impact on the debt. Santorum is a social conservative and most definitely a neo con but on the fiscal side he is a big government Republican.

  • Ann_W

    You’re against e-Verify, against right-to-work, and super committed to earmarks, including the “Bridge to Nowhere”? You may be on the wrong website.

    I see people saying he’s the best of the flawed candidates left, but saying that you agree with him completely means, either you are just talking about social issues, and don’t know about the rest of his record — or you’re not a conservative.

  • hls87

    that if we do hold orur nose and vote for Romney then win or lose we still “get a country-destroying socialist who has NOTHING to hold him back for four years” (even if we do maintain control of the House and Senate). Our problem isn’ Obama or the Democrats. It’s the bipartisan progressive consensus that’s been driving us into the ground for the last century, almost without a break. Passing the torch from a Dem progressive to a Republican progressive will achieve nothing. We’ll still be proceeding apace toward our date with disaster.

    The GOP has screwed the pooch and we won’t be able to retrieve the situation until 2016 (if Romney loses) or 2024 (if he wins). By the time we get another shot it may be too late. That’s the brutal reality. We all need to stop kidding ourselves. Gingrich isn’t gong to retrieve the situation. Santorum isn’t going to retrieve he situation (and wouldn’t even if he could). 2012 is a wrie off.

    Invest in arable land.

  • Ann_W

    I wonder if conservatives on this site realize what an icon for religious intolerance the media has made him. You know about the word they made out of him? I don’t think he’s going to be getting many independents. I don’t think the media should have that kind of power, but they kind of do have the power to caricature people. I’d fight back except that I think social issues are the only thing Santorum has going for him, he’s a disaster for economic policy which is our big problem in this country.

  • naysayer

    … he is Mike Huckabee.

  • joereagan

    The “expiration date” of the Bush tax cuts was a strategic move to appease Democrats, and also to give Republicans a political issue down the road. Notice that Obama has extended them? He wants no part of that fight. There is no way the cuts for the lower brackets will be allowed to expire.

    Also, “women” are not part of the Democrat base. They almost always lose among white women. The “gender gap” is spun by Democrats as proof that the Republicans are lacking, when the reality is that the Democrats often do worse with men than Republicans do with women, and when Democrats win majorities among women as a whole, it’s because of their margin among minority women. And none of it has anything to do with abortion, which is a 50-50 issue.

  • acat

    is deeply offensive to the small government corner of “Fusion” Conservatism.

    Santorum is a nanny-statist at best, he’s met very few government solutions he didn’t like.

    Santorum’s also got strong union ties – and one of the major problems the next POTUS must handle will be government employee unions.

    Right now, Santorum has the advantage of not having been seriously vetted previously. Look for that to change, for Romney to start going after him – hard – and on the issues I’ve mentioned and on whatever his oppo research has uncovered.

    Mew

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    If Chairman Obama is reelected 500,000 more babies will be slaughtered thanks to Federal funding of abortion through ObamaCare. Is your conscience OK with that?

    This is not an academic exercise. Chairman Obama is a real danger to America as we know it. People arguing “we shouldn’t settle” and splitting hairs about who’s the most like Ronald Reagan are simply arguing over the most comfortable deck chair on the Titanic.

    I will vote for anyone who can remove Chairman Obama from his dictatorship. I prefer to avoid the iceberg altogether. We can argue about the deck chairs later.

  • hls87

    We aren’t choosing among Romney, Santorum and Gingrich. Given that there is no way either Gingrich or Santorum can win, it doesn’t matter whether either is preferable to Romney.

    A former Senator who went down in flames in 2006 because the Republican leadership of which he was an integral part had been wandering about cluelessly for years isn’t going to rise from the ashes to win a presidential nomination. It’s not going to happen and last night doesn’t make it even slightly more likely. It’s even less likely to happen because Santorum is a niche player with very little appeal outside the small cadre of voters who have tunnel vision and can see nothing but social issues in isolation.

    Conservatives are deeply dissatisfied with Romney and they are moving wildly from one not-Romney to the next. But there are no plausible not-Romneys left in the race. People have already discovered that Gingrich is not plausible so his campaign is tanking. They will soon discover, or rediscover, that Santorum’s campaign is not plausible and he too will tank.

    Romney will win the nomination. God save us all.

  • http://www.planettron.com NickDeringer

    If Chairman Obama is reelected 500,000 more babies will be slaughtered thanks to Federal funding of abortion through ObamaCare. Is your conscience OK with that?

    This is not an academic exercise. Chairman Obama is a real danger to America as we know it. People arguing “we shouldn’t settle” and splitting hairs about who’s most like Ronald Reagan are simply arguing over the most comfortable deck chair on the Titanic.

    I will vote for anyone who can remove Chairman Obama from his dictatorship. I prefer to avoid the iceberg altogether. We can argue about the deck chairs later.

  • acat

    and hope that reverse-coattails push someone better than obama into the white house.

    Mew

  • hls87

    In the course of losing SC to Gingrich, Romney drove his only serious competitor, Rick Perry out of the race. By losing MO, CO and MN to Rick Santorum in one night, he delivered the coup de grace to Newt and demolished Ron Paul’s claim to relevance. Winning NH and FL was good for Mitt, but not as good as his most productive loses.

    The field now consists of Romney and the also rans and Romney will, of course, win. It takes monumental naivete to ignore the wriing on the wall at this point.

  • clintonformccain

    is aimed at the Republican chances for beating Barack Hussein Obama in November.

  • clowngirl

    I live in Colorado and went to a Rick Santorum event on January 31st – and heard he’d been in the Springs the day before. He’s been doing events almost constantly ever since. (Think there may have been a couple days when he was tied up elsewhere)

    I didn’t hear about Ron Paul doing any events, (did get some robo calls from them though) heard about at least 4-5 for Romney and Newt only did 2. (One which included Sanrtorum) for half of one day while most people were at work.

    And I wouldn’t say Ron Paul had a bad night at all – by Ron Paul standards. He finished 2nd in Minnesota and is bragging that he actually got more delegates elected.

    I suspect Maine is the only state of this round Ron Paul was actually trying to win. His caucus strategy seems more about getting his supporters elected as delegates and presumably doing well by paying attention to the states that others don’t.

  • hls87

    I’m pretty sure he never fried a squirrel in a popcorn popper.

  • darthvader

    Mr/Ms Mew,

    Obama must go however, the Republican party has a
    Responsibility to run someone not just marginally better
    Than Obama ,but head and shoulders above Obama,
    On all of the issues. I can see only two, Mitt and Newt.
    I will support either of the above two candidates.

    Also, it is disingenuous to sign something ?Mew?.
    This hopefully, is an important forum on political views
    and being so, the proper way to end a letter,

    is good bye, thanks, sincerely, etc..

    Art

  • powertothepeople

    Second, slightly better is still better.

    Third, if you think or claim to think that Mitt and Newt are heads and shoulders above Obama, then you have no credibility. They are prime examples of our failure to actually support during the primaries a real conservative who is heads and shoulders above Obama so now we are stuck with slightly better which at the end of the day is still much better.

    And lastly, learn to use reply to this before you lecture a long time poster on how to end his comments.

    Woof

    PS Hope you have a smart comment on my ending as I love making arrogant people weep with shame.

    Woof again.

  • colonelflagg

    Some Nootwits are every bit as bad as Romney’s people.

    Good wins for Santorum. Conservatism still has a chance.

  • bluerose75

    Get a clue buddy….what state has the tin suit won…Oh that is right Florida….where Rick did not campaign and your tin suit spent 30 millions dollars on negative ads and had a 4 pronged attack on Newt the Thursday before the Tuesday primary. It was the nastiest bunch of BS I have ever seen. Romney won a hollow victory and he proved nothing. His negatives went through the roof and he is now reeping what he sows!

    He also won New Hampshire….WOW!! And Nevada, where everyone knw he would win because of the Mormons, but Nevada is not a big state either. So New Hampshire and Nevada are tiny states buddy!

    Rick won Iowa, Missouri and Colorada are key battleground states and Missouri is indeed big and so is Minnesota. Romney spent money advertising in both Colorado and Minnesota where he went negative on Santorum and LOST!! He was suppose to win Colorado and LOST!! He was the front runner and LOST!! Missouri will reflect the South….Your Big Guy will falter in the South big time. Why? He is not liked and he is a fraud!!

    Mitt hurt himself with the “very poor” remark and in the Midwest and South that will work against him. He has dropped in national polls, his negatives are up and conservatives in other states will not vote for a liberal from Mass.

    Florida is not conservative and the money this guy spent was unbelievable. He turned off many here in Florida.

    Santorum looked Presidential last night and quite frankly when he speaks about conservatism he has some credibility. The tin suit has none!!

    Michigan is “his home” or some garbage like that but Rick is going to have some big momentum. Rick will do well in the Midwest because he talks about manufacturing and he is socially conservative. He will do better and Mitt could be in trouble even in Michigan.

    Newt and Rick need to work together to defeat the tin suit. Every day he looks weaker against Obama from Romneycare to his “very poor remark” to his inability to excite conservatives. Make no bones about it….Mitt took a big hit last night and it was not pretty!

    Thank you Conservatives in Minn. Mo and Co for re-energizing this race and showing the people in Florida how wrong they were. Baby this race has a long way to go and Mitt is starting to sputter!! Love it!

  • hls87

    how much of the passion in conservaive politics comes from tunnel-vision social conservaives who don’t understand that the social issues, properly understood, arre about protecting the culture from intrusive government.

    Santorum and his voers seem to think big government can be enlisted in the cause of soical reconstruction. They don’t understand that a nanny state trying to perfect the culture is every bit as antitheical to liberty as a nanny state trying to degrade it. They aren’ content to play defense in politics, keeping the state from attackikng conventional morality and working to shore up morality in their own churches and families. They want to play political offense as well, even though the history of government efforts to improve people isn’t at all pretty.

    Sometimes it seems as if conservatives have to share a trench with a bunch of people who are pining for the good old days of the Inquisition or Calvin’s Geneva. Worse yet, those people have influence out of proportion to their numbers because they are often motivated to vote in low-turnout primaries and caucuses when few others can be bothered.

    Politics makes for strange, and not always comfortable bedfellows.

  • joeydavis

    The fact is only one large state has voted. It was a state full of retired northeastern pensioners that fall right in line with Romney’s target audience.

    Missouri is the 2nd largest state and Santorum won it in a walk.

    I suspect you’ll see similar numbers to last night’s in Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina down the line. Those are 3 of the biggest 12.

    You won’t see Santorum compete in New York or California because they are useless.

    There’s significance to the places where Santorum is winning. They are battleground states. They are states that are in play in November and their voters are choosing Santorum.

    There’s also significance that Santorum is winning “neutral site” caucus states. We’ve always been told that caucuses are about your ground game and organization. It’s beginning to look like Santorum’s ground game is pretty damn good. Could it be that Santorum’s evangelical militia doesn’t need money and a professional organization.

    I know I never need either to win campaigns locally. In 2004, I threw the “Rove-Bush” playbook in the trash can and produced the biggest Republican win ever in my 2:1 democratic county. It’s pretty easy to turn out 3-400 primary votes in a close knit rural community. I can do it with a couple phone calls and no money at all.

  • nojaa

    So are you saying we should all vote for Romney the Romulan and just ignore what our superior consciences tell us to do?

    Horse hockey, I say!

  • WY_Cowboy

    than Mitt Romney. Ear marks are bad, but just about every politician seeks them while in office, inside and outside of Washington, Republican or Democrat. The fact is that Mitt Romney too sought ear marks for Mass. while he was governor. The fact is that Romney imposed a top down government mandated health care system that was the model for Barack Obama which stripped away the freedom of the citizens of the commonwealth. Mitt Romney says he opposes Obamacare because it is too expensive, not because it tramples on the constitution and treats citizens like children. Mitt Romney is not at all conservative.

    Santorum is not perfect. Nobody is. But at least he knows what he believes and means what he says. If you can honestly say the same thing about Mitt Romney, vote for him. Otherwise, the choice for conservatives who are looking for fundamental change is clear given the state of the race today: Rick Santorum.

    It would be helpful to finally derail Romney if Newt dropped out. He has to decide how badly he doesn’t want Romney to be the nominee and make his decision. I’m not calling for him to drop out, but I wouldn’t be surprised, actually, to see him do it if Santorum weathers the s-storm about to come down on him. The thing about Newt is he ultimately does what he thinks is best for the party and for the cause. He likes Rick Santorum and hates Romney. The next few weeks are going to be very interesting.

  • groverc

    Have to disagree with Mr. Erickson’s assessment here. The Rasmussen poll of 3 days ago put Santorum ahead of Obama in a general election match-up — the only Republican candidate to be ahead of Obama.
    For several Mo-MN-CO voters, that had to severely challenge the standard D.C. conventional wisdom that Santorum was too low-profile to mount a serious challenge to an incumbent President. Yeah — so was Bill Clinton.
    Add to that the fact that, even when polling low in Rep primaries, more voters considered Santorum “the only adult in the room,” and you see last night’s results.
    Santorum’s challenge is to stay the adult when the desperate Gingrich attacks and standard Romney attacks come his way, and to offer strong, clear conservative policies. He’s got a chance.

  • jakeofalltrades

    and speak in favor of a brokered convention. Someone with a really funny voice would be ideal.

  • bluerose75

    Your post is a joke and pathetic. Mitt excels in losing and his past records indicate his success. Perry was not a factor because he was not ready. For your ignorance to claim by losing he wins is laughable. I could just see it now…if your tin suit won last night do you think he would not have been doing his VICTORY LAP?? Do you think he would not have been talking like it is cruise control to the nomination??

    Thats right he preferred losing last night and then he WON! Is the shovel you carry as big as the one you need?

    The press alone of his losses will hurt him all over the place. And any fool that thinks a Romney loss will bolster him in the South is a obviously living in a pseudo reality!

    Also rans is a joke. Rick was never an also ran and Newt is biding his time. But Mitt’s failure in so many races is PROFOUND!

  • bluerose75

    How about you go to your Bluray or whatever ray go catch the “Polar Express” and find your tin suit!! He is on the way to the deep freeze!! He was just clocked cleaned and froze out! Take his train it just took a detour to reality…called LOSER!

  • mikeymike143

    he has no need for a brokered convention

  • Locked and Loaded

    BTW, take off the helmet; it must be cutting off the oxygen to your brain.

    The Obama Culture Cartel is not only forcing the religious organizations to supply birth control pills. Educate yourself. You are in sore need of it.

  • acat

    Under the U.S. system, various parties come together to form a coalition party, then work to win the election.

    And yes, being a libertarian-leaning conservative, I do find social-only conservatives to be rather .. stunted.

    Mew

  • WY_Cowboy

    We still have to see how well he handles the “vetting” but if he does it well he could win.

    It also seems to me the potential for enthusiasm to increased markedly on the conservative side with a Santorum nomination is a real possibility. I remember how Sarah Palin did that for McCain, and Sarah Palin was not the most conservative governor in AK on every issue. She was authentic, knew where conservatives lived, and could communicate with them and get them personally invested because she was one of them. The same can be said of Rick to some degree.

  • joeydavis

    Rick Santorum is two things.

    One, he is a true hard right conservative. His historical voting record says as much. His NFIB, Chamber of Commerce, NRA, Right to Life, ACU ratings are off the charts. His record with conservative coalitions is off the charts.

    Two, he is a loyalist. He carried water for his president, which is what good members of the Republican leadership do. On Right to work, he voted his state law, not his personal opinion. On Arlen Specter, he supported a sitting Senator and a longtime friend and supporter.

    There’s nothing wrong with being loyal to your president, your constituents or those who have been loyal to you. It’s actually an admirable trait.

  • georgehenry85
    Your are right rick is not very conservative at all! I just did some research eek! What is with these so called GOP conservative canadates? They all support big government program’s that have only proven to fail and are a slap in the face to the poor and the working man that pays for them!!

    And I just found out rick is not on all the ballots. Indiana and others!

    Romney and Paul are the only ones on all the state GOP ballots.

    Might as well give Paul the nomination with this rick surge.. Hummm at least we would see a large change to small government less welfare, complete reversal of Obama’s program’s!

    I could understand the 76 year old conservatives forigen policy in a way I guess? The more troops we have on our own borders the safer America would be?

    Just think its more logical to have boots on the ground controlling the chaos over there to keep it from spreading over in our land!

  • annie54

    we’ve been waiting for. Even FOX, in their shock last night that their chosen one was defeated, said that “this is the new Santorum”. (I have quit FOX due to their Establishment pick, but I just had to swing over there to see how they were handling it.) It was hilarious.

    ‘Know what is good about a young candidate who is still in the learning process? He isn’t set in his ways and he doesn’t carry all of the allegiances that a crusty old, out-of-shape AND out-of-energy Newt Gingrich has. Romney has been trying to become our nominee for so long that he doesn’t know where he stands on anything. Newt needs to campaign like they did years ago, on the back rail of a caboose so he doesn’t have to exert himself.

    Retail Politickin’ has changed everything in that the candidate has to go to the citizenry. Rick Santorum is great at that as well as his wife, who doesn’t care if her hair is messed up and blowing in the wind. Granted, I was a staunch Rick Perry supporter, riding in his posse, and tried to jump on Newt’s bandwagon, but have done it half-heartedly. Romney is out of the question. Period.

    “This, the new Santorum” can defeat Obama, but he needs money and Perry’s Posse to help him. I e-mailed a small contribution to him last night at midnight and asked what I could do to help. The website kept going down. I hope that was an indication that I wasn’t the only one making a contribution.

    We’ve also got to pray for him and his family’s protection. The Establishment is ruthless in all ways. It is going down because the Conservatives have finally gotten conviction!

  • papabear

    Are we going to nominate a minor demon because Icarus (Newt) got scorched by Prince Amon (Mittless)?

    I doubt I will ever be enthused about Santorum Big Government ways. However, if the choice is between Santorum and MT Mittens, Santorum is the lesser evil …

  • hls87

    It’s all over and it was some time ago. What you are watching now is a mopping up operation. Romney will win and he will do so easily. Neither Gingrich nor Santorum will, in retrospect, amount to so much as a speed bump in Mitt’s progress toward the nomination.

    Granted Romney is a terrible politician and a very poor presidential candidate. Granted the conservatives deeply distrust him and are begging for someone else. Last night made that much cleared than ever, but it doesn’t matter. Romney is the only remotely plausible presidential candidate still in the race and so, he will win.

    If you don’t understand that, your ignorance is profound. Perhaps you will benefit from watching events unfold so you won’t be so disoriented next time around, always assuming there will be a next time around.

  • Locked and Loaded

    with Asteroids, Galaga, Stargate.

  • loosetooth

    Great line!

  • mikeymike143

    and do the numbers 0-108 mean anything to you?

    1988- 0 states won, 50 states lost

    2008- 0 states won, 50 states lost

    2012- 0 states won, 8 states lost

    again, i call for the republican party to shun and ostracize jew hating paul and his code pink loving paulbots as one would avoid a leper colony.

  • rememberthealamo

    Some – no, more than some – conservatives see little difference between Romney and Obama. We see policies similar, the types of judges they would appoint similar, the health insurance requirements similar, etc. We do not believe a President Romney will further conservative views and values. So we see no reason to vote for him over his soulmate Obama.

    So the Repuublican establishment shrill scream of “accept our candidate or get four more years of Obama” does not sway us. We will wait and vote for a strong conservative in 2016. Btw, that possibility is not limited to a REPUBLICAN strong conservative.

  • noveldog9

    Newt has neutered out, and Santorum wins a big lot of nothing.

    Romney wisely saved his money to spend on the states that have electorial votes to be gained. Popularity is nice, but electorial votes decide who will wears the crown!

    After Super Tuesday we will be better able to see who the real winners are. Until then the news media will coninue to pounce on his every word. They will tear them apart and find fault whenever they can.They know he is the only real challenge to Obama. He loses now, they win big in November!

  • loosetooth

    went to Obama 56-43. Men were 49-48.
    McCain was not exactly a heartthrob, but those are the exit poll numbers I just found.
    And unmarried women went for Obama 70-29. In my experience, young women are motivated by abortion rights, access to contraception, not saying “i don’t care about the very poor” (taken out of context, but still)

  • joeydavis

    Let them bring the fight. To say that Rick Santorum can’t win because he’s too socially conservative says the core of our beliefs is unacceptable to a majority of voters. I have a hard time believing that to be true.

    The media and the Republican establishment have been feeding us Romney the inevitable and presenting him as the only electable candidate for months, yet Santorum is still standing and still thriving.

    Rick Santorum has won a half dozen times in a predominately Democratic state and a predominantly Democratic district. He knows how to win in swing states.

    Trust your heart, trust the American people and trust your faith. Don’t let the media steal your vote.

  • swi2522

    santorum will and isembracing the tea party principals

    the BIG LOOSER IS THE WASHINGTON ESTABLISHMENT
    the citizens will vote for anyone that washington does not endorse

  • Ausonius

    Romney may have the most money, but his missteps (“…the poor…” was easily exaggerated into something it was not, but that is why you must think before you speak) will negate the momentum from his money.

    We have seen momentum fizzle within weeks and sometimes days of a misstep (Perry’s “Senior Moment” on camera).

    So as Wyoming Cowboy says above, if Santorum has any momentum, it will be his to lose by opening his mouth before his brain is fully loaded.

    February and March may find the vote so divided that nobody will be a clear front-runner: if that happens (I think the odds are not good, but some pundits have predicted this) look for the Groundhog to emerge, not see a shadow, and become A New Hope! :)

  • horse328

    I voted in Missouri because I wanted to send a message to the caucus that was reportedly leaning toward Romney.

  • redmymind

    If that means Santorum, let it be Santorum. ANYBODY BUT BHO-LITE!!!

  • jaybird248

    Oh, I wouldn’t be so quick to write Mitt off. Santorum’s big night was another anti-Romney spasm, fed by low turnout and Romney’s not putting his full resources to work. But as a New Englander, he’ll do well in Maine and as a native son, take Michigan. Then his powerful negative machine will win him Arizona, setting him up to close the deal on Super Tuesday. Rember, the establishment always wins, except for Barry Goldwater, and look what happened to him.

    It won’t matter in the end, though. Obama will beat whoever the GOP puts up from the current crowd of losers. And it will all be for naught.

  • jamesm

    Romney campaign and supporters have unleashed a barrage of negative ads driving down the vote. His campaign is not a campaign of bold ideas. He has bought his wins in Iowa and Florida with negative ads. He cant win on ideas. Some conservatives now view him as a guy who wouldn’t even be in this race if he were not rich. The more the establishment pushes this guy the more there will be a backlash. After years of running most conservatives have completely rejected his candidacy. It wll take a week for the establishment to digest (they must be sick) the clubbing he took. His money will not beat Obama. He cannot win in November. Nothing could be more clear.

  • noveldog9

    Some wrongly think we need a radical to lead us. They don’t like Romney because he is middle of the road, or Moderate. I think he is sensible, and thoughtful. He took some bad positions early on in his political career which is hurting him now, however he has modified those positions, and now is Moderate to Conservative on the main issues. He will draw more votes than the more radical candidates.

    Romney has strong backing from many who are very well organized , and they have deep pockets. When the important electoral states come up he will have an advantage that will serve him well. Exit Gingrich, and Santorum, three fourths of the way to the convention floor..

  • horse328

    The urban poor want a perpetual welfare state, and the elite are more than happy to keep them there. Don?t look for any of the urban centers in the ?Big States? to vote Republican any time soon. We need a conservative that the rest of us can enthusiastically support.

  • joeydavis

    Rick Santorum is a conservative. He comes from a blue state. He represented 100% of Pennsylvania. His conservative bonafides with ACU, NRA, NRL, USCC are not perfect, but they are beyond reproach.

    He was a member of the Republican leadership. He governed. He worked for his constituents. He worked for, defended and died for his President.

    He didn’t make President Bush’s agenda. He simply did his job and pushed it through.

    I’m sick and tired of hearing how unconservative Rick Santorum is. Unconservative compared to what, certainly not Mitt Romney.

    I like Newt Gingrich. I don’t question his conservative bonafides. I question his values. I can’t go with thrice married, 2 time cheater when I have Rick Santorum as an alternative.

    is Rick Santorum a perfect choice? No, but he’s probably about as close as we’re ever going to get!

  • jamesm

    Although Romney didnt technically win Iowa, he was declared the winner by the media the day after.

  • arthurjake

    I dont see how Romney would govern any different then Obama based on his time as governor of Mass. I would rather lose and be better off in 4 years then win and be just as bad off with our winning nominee. At least then you can offer up someone better and get real change done.

  • redmymind

    1. Let him go negative and expose himself for what he really is.

    2. Or, let him go “positive” and expose his utter ignorance of and discomfort with conservative principles.

    Either way, the folks have caught up with this fraud and establishment puppet and his bland trickery.

    Another “debate coach” ain’t gonna cut it. Gee, how many do you need?

  • joecollins

    . . for the Republican establishment.

    No matter what happens from this day forward, yesterday was a gut check to Rove’s back room gang.

  • romansdaughter

    Christine O”Donnell, Nikki Haley and Rubio to buy their endorsements. It had nothing to do with supporting the Tea Party..he”s running for President for Pete Sake. I will vote for Mittens in the General even though I am independent but I am quite sure a lot of people won’t. You really can’t get too excited about a candidate who doesn’t have a conservative of any kind to speak of.

  • romansdaughter

    nt

  • tnguy

    It is not Santorum’s job to push through bad legislation just because the president was a republican. His job was to always try to to do the right thing, and he failed. Bush’s big gov’t agenda sunk his presidency and cost republicans control of congress. EE’s post on Santorum’s big gov’t “conservatism” paints a complete picture of the guy.

    On social issues, he’s a conservative. On fiscal matters, he is decidedly not.

    We are at a desperate time in our country, and most – even amongst the more informed – will not or can not acknowledge it. Obama is not the problem: we are. Obama is just the result of conservatives repeatedly bending the knee to the middle and whatever centrist big gov’t candidate the party foisted upon us. If we’re not willing to address the issues in our party and within our own movement, how can we possibly try to win over moderates, much less leftists?

    http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/01/06/what-a-big-government-conservative-looks-like/

  • freedom555

    Still, that’s his plan……his only plan. He’s spouting cute little attacks at Obama but he’s not telling anyone what he would do differently.

    Voters are seeing just how empty Mitt is.

  • annie54

    and the shock could be seen on all of the FOX faces.

  • acat

    I’m just pointing out that yesterday’s election changed only the image, not the delegate counts.

    Mew

  • undecided314

    And I expect that means four more years of BO.

    I and many others will vote third party or stay home long before voting for Romney. We can’t swallow that much crud.

    The RNC desperately wants us to believe that the only goal is to kick BO out of office. Sorry, that doesn’t fly anymore. The only goal of the RNC is to obtain power, even if that means running a leftie for president.

    Come November, I expect to see a presidential contest between two empty suits. Hopefully this will highlight the deprivations of the two major parties. What comes after that, who knows.

    I will be focusing on local politics where I can actually have an impact and find candidates who are not total sellouts.

  • vaaztx

    ?as Ron Paul is the only not-Romney on the ballot in the Old Dominion.

  • WY_Cowboy

    was not to impose a top down government mandated program that strips away the rights of citizens and treats themn like mindless children. That was Mitt Romney’s plan that Barack Obama shoved down our throats nationally. Rick Santorum didn’t do anything all that different than any other politician elected at the time, Republican or Democrat, and inside or outside of Washington. Ear marks are bad, goes without saying, but look at the deficit back then compared to what it is today. Mitt Romney supported TARP, Rick Santorum did not. Mitt Romney still supports the individual mandate and Rick Santorum does not.

    Is Rick Santorum as conservative as Tom Coburn on fiscal matters? No. Is he as conservative as Mitt Romney? Without question. More so. EE made good points in that article, but Santorum is still more conservative than Mitt Romney in every single way. Period.

    The other thing is Romney still has not given anyone a reason to vote FOR him other than he is electable. That argument lessens everyday. So what’s left? Why should any conservative vote for him if Santorum is as or more electable than Mitt Romney? I refer you to the Rassmusen poll released on Friday.

  • fightnright

    he will also draw a hella lot of the (vastly unemployed) youth vote away from the zerO, a key bloc he won with social media in ’08 and is already courting with strong new targeted facebook outreach, a sign of acknowledgement that this faction is wavering and going indy. Paul will not draw moderate Repubs or Reagan Dems, who dislike his foreign policy, and whose hesitance about further US military drawdowns may harden as the unrest in the Middle East probably escalates over the next 6 months. Altogether I’m lately wondering if a RP 3rd party run draws more from the Dem fever swamp vote than from ours.

  • undecided314

    .

  • countryroad2012

    Obama will win Minnesota in November that is a fact. I hate being a conservative in this state! Romney did not campaign here because the delegates are not pledged. At the caucuses Ron Paul supporters were the most enthusiastic of everyone. I think a lot of Social Conservatives came out last night. Everyone was hell bent to defeat Obama in the fall. Santorum hasn’t been vetted yet, but he is about to be. I have read a lot about his past and I don’t think much of his history. Seems like he is an opportunist that has lived off the government tit most of his life. I also don’t like being preached to about social issues he comes off as condescending, I don’t care for it.
    His history does not show him as a small government, fiscal conservative.

  • undecided314

    The post is all about values.

    The RNC counts on your fear driven position to continuously shovel drek our way. As long as you are that easily manipulated and keep on the plantation, we will stay on the current trajectory.

    Chairman Obama.
    Chairman Romney.

    I’ll give you a nickle for the difference.

  • vaaztx

    Are you the trustee from suburban Nashville?

  • vaaztx

    ?and your choice is either Mitt Romney or Ron Paul (no Rick or Newt) who do you vote for?

  • WY_Cowboy

    Mitt Romney? Seriously? Mr. Obamneycare, himself? Rick Santorum is not a small government, fiscal conservative compared to Tom Coburn. But if you want a small government, fiscal conservative for a nominee surely you can’t support Mitt Government-Run-Individual-Mandate Romney. That would seem truly unserious.

  • blato

    criticizers around here. Romney’s nearly destroyed for the general (much of which is his own fault). Gingrich is on life support – someone pull the cord please. Santorum’s a “big government, socially-conservative Reagan Democrat”.

    In our hate for each other (and each other’s candidates), we’ve lost sight of the true enemy of the state. All three of these candidates have repeatedly stated that they would shrink the size of government, repeal Obamacare and remove anti-business and anti-religion regulation. I thought these are the things we want. Sure, we may not trust that one candidate is as dedicated to fulfilling these promises as another. But Obama is telling us and showing us that he will do the opposite, and the damage to our country will be deep and long-lived. Equating any of our candidates to Obama is not just a gross exaggeration, it is a gross falsehood.

    I understand that during the primaries, we fight for the candidate we believe in, with the hope we come together for the general. But this campaign feels worse – like 2008 times two or three. I fear we are destroying any chance we have to beat Obama, and that will be on our hands.

  • joeydavis

    Compare Santorum’s conservative bonafides against anyone else’s. He’s as good as you get.

    Just for the record, on budgets, is there ever one that both Sen. Santorum and Rep. voted on where they cast DIFFERENT votes?

    In Congress you get two versions of a bill. One is written by the President, one is written by the opposition. You can hold your nose and vote for your party’s version, you can jump ship and vote for the dark side or you can chicken out and “morally oppose” everything.

    We pay legislators to legislate, not draw a paycheck telling about pie in the sky perfection that one wants or believes.

    Santorum was right 90+% of the time and no human in politics or life has ever been perfect. If I can get a candidate I agree with 90% of the time I’m thrilled to death!!!

  • WY_Cowboy

    my neighbors to the south!

  • joereagan

    That’s what it looks like when a Democrat wins. When it shifts the other direction, those numbers are reversed, with women split evenly and men going big for the Republican.

  • daveoconnor

    I wonder if the Santorum campaign knows that posts like “idol-worshipping” church and posters who proclaim they “despise Islam” are allowed here. He’d better wise up before Dem oppo research tells the world.

  • steeltube

    I read the very same post as yours many many times in 2010. The only difference is the stakes.

    The “vote my conscious” folks ended up giving us Sharon Angle, O’Donnell, Miller, et al. Unlike them I prefer to operate in the real world. It’s one thing to lose control of the Senate “on principle” as we did by running these folks. Its quite another when the White House is at stake.

  • joeydavis

    How do you logically deduce that antiabortion should be pro birth control?

    Killing a fetus is stopping life. Birth control stops conception, which stops life. We are PRO LIFE

    How hard is that to figure out?

  • jaykali

    Rick Santorum, the comeback kid. For all the Romney-haters out there, it has always seemed to me that Rick was a better choice over erratic, scorched-earth, bomb-thrower Newt. I know Rick is basically labeled a ‘big-govt’ conservative and went along with Bush on all his stuff (altho which republicans didnt at that time, he was the president). I dont like that he is unapologetic ab some of those things and earmarks but he is at least consistent. You know what you’re going to get.

    One of my worries besides the usual (money, organization, etc). ab Rick are his goofy nuanced arguments on social issues. Like his argument that states /should/ be able to ban contraceptives but he wouldn’t support it. He leaves himself open for liberal attacks to say ‘Rick says states should be able to ban contraceptives’ or a more deceptive line of ‘Rick is for states being able to ban contraceptives’. I wish he would just side step those gotcha questions. But now with the president’s “Catholic” problems I think that really undoes alot of the potential damaging attacks you could levy against Rick. If you get into a social issue war he can really bloody up the prez over this Catholic/contraceptives problem which makes him less vulnerable. Now eventually the prez and gang will HAVE to retreat on that and give in but they have taken too long and I think the damage will stay.

    I will worry if Rick surges but is unable to raise money but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. He is ab to get an onslaught of negative ads his way so we’ll see if he can survive it. And he needs to, we can’t say well Romney shouldnt go negative bc we know Obama will double down, triple down on any type of negative ads Romney would put out there so candidates need to be able to rise above.

    And if he does good for him. I like his overall candidacy alot more than Gingrich’s.

    In the end my opinion more/less is that this election is more ab the jobs picture in november than anything else. Even in 2008 when republicans were SEVERELY down, the bottom didnt fall out until we started lose 750k! jobs a month! No party can survive that. So in my estimation if the economy somehow rebounds to avg 200k+ jobs this year and ppl FEEL like the economy is better somehow he will win election by probably just Ohio going his way.

    But if this is more like 2011 and people feel like his policies are keeping the economy barely moving at a snails pace then he’ll lose. And I dont really think it matters who the candidate is on the other side.

  • acat

    How is this significantly different from:

    ?

    Mew

  • littlehouse18

    After all, he’s had far worse things happen to him in his life.

  • annplato

    “The longer that folks stay in ?denial? about that fact, the worse chance we have of winning the White House in 2012.”

    LACK of enthusiasm is as much of a killer for Republicans as the opposition. Obama, as many supporters as have dwindled to, they ARE enthusiastically plugging for him. Republicans also need as much of an inspirational nominee on the conservative side. Sorry, but no real conservative perceives Romney as REAL conservative, but only as opportunistic conservative.

    Yes, as much as YOU are in?denial?, a nomination for Romney is a sure loser for the Republicans and conservatism, therefore a sure win for liberalism and Obama. Romney cannot compete for Obama?s position with the RAL deal.

    He IS a phony for both liberals and conservatives, and everyone, on both sides of the aisle know that!

  • Bob_Frazier

    Where was the religious right, you ask? They were with me, marching by the thousands. They called us the Tea Party.

  • onemovoter

    Rick Perry that is. After reading through everyone’s postings here, I only see that the 3 of 4 candidates aren’t conservative, and the 4th is nuts. We wouldn’t be having this argument if people had picked Rick Perry through this point.

    When we lose this election, I do hope after seeing Perry come out saying he still has a lot of fight left in him, that he’ll work towards 2016, IF the country is still around by then.

    YES, I’m still depressed that Perry dropped out and wasn’t able to win over the other fake candidates. It just goes to show that Republican voters aren’t the brightest after all. I’m not referring to the folks here, who are extremely well informed and most supported Perry as well.

    Till then I’ll be in my bunker living my life as best as possible.

  • snowshooze

    Just to slap the GOP establishment machine. No other reason.
    They robbed Virginians of their right to select the Candidate of their choice, so they need to be replaced.

  • westcoastpatriette

    unenthused

  • WY_Cowboy

    Tom Coburn? You’re right. Mitt Obamneycare Romney? What a laugh!

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …because no one has addressed the profound problems with Santorum that are documented on my Diary-site.

    He wants to redistribute the wealth!

  • carolynr

    1. I agree with Kitty…no matter who the candidate is…this should be an anti-Obama vote. That is all this is. We will not get much better than what he is…but we should slow down the spending/tyranny.

    2. The Republican Party had better wake up to the fact that we want change. This is no longer a TPM thing. The government took “GOD” off an Air Force insignia because of some protests from atheists!!!! This was just some bitty story in Drudge today…but it shows a pattern. Don’t like paying for birth control…too bad..you pay for it already in Obamacare.

    3. Of all the candidates…and I don’t like any of them currently running, I would trust Santorum to pick a Conservative Supreme. Romney would probably pick someone worse than Daddy Bush did. Gingrich…I don’t even know at this point. If Paul were the President, he would appoint a Constitutionalist.

    What bothers me more than anything about this election…is that people don’t like who the press has anointed …WILLARD. That means LOW VOTER TURNOUT….and we can’t as citizens allow that to happen.

    People just don’t like him. No matter how they spin it….the economy is his wheelhouse…he can get the moderates or Indies…people don’t like him. For that matter…people don’t like Gingrich…but they know he is smart. Romney…not so sure about, i.e., the smart business.
    If Obama gets in for the second term…there will be a third party…either that or people will vote out every single Republican that has gone the way of the “doing business as usual” approach.

    Colorado was a big wake up call for Romney…This was NOT GOOD. I don’t care about whether it was a primary or a caucus…the telltale signs are there…and maybe a brokered convention is all we can hope for…because there is no consensus in the country.

    MARTIN…PEOPLE DON’T LIKE ROMNEY..Get It

  • carolynr

    the words and connect the dots? Read my post below…Santorum will appoint Conservative Supremes. Seeing how there is a lack of checks and balances in our three branches of government these days…that is all we can hope for. Santorum will carry on in the GWB fashion, should he be the candidate…and Obama will say: ” I inherited this mess from GWB, I have tried to help the Middle Class, I have tried to create jobs and the Republicans have thwarted me at every turn and now…Folks…I have to run against the twin of GWB. Folks…do you want more wars…more spending…more bailouts? This is what GWB did to you. I have killed OBL…I have pulled out of Iraq…I inherited this mess…and you will have to deal with this again if you elect Santorum.”

    I bet that will be the gist of this..forget the fact that Obama did not help anyone but himself, the unions and his backers. If only the TPM and the Conservative Reps would have come out for Governor Perry….he would have gotten his sea legs back again because his surgery was progressing nicely…but it was too late.

    I’m afraid that Gingrich is done for…although I am leery of him also…and it will probably be Romney. Again…we know how that script will go…Obama set it up with Romney in mind.

    So…I get to do the same thing over again expecting a different result, i.e., McCain…only to watch it unfold the same way. However, as I told Kitty…I will vote for the Republican. Let’s hope people do not stay home.

    Voter turnout was low in this Santorum sweep.

  • megamom

    The establishment experts said that Romney was sure to sweep in CO last night. They have lied to people that Romney is the only one to beat Obama. There is too much video footage of Romney and gingrich flip flopping that Obama would use to defeat either of those. Santorum is the new face who has been a consistent conservative – Obama and the media fear his nomination the most.

  • georgehenry85

    derp derp derp

    I simply look at the 76 year olds voting record I quite like the fact that his views are so far off from the establishment platform that if we non NEO-CON republicans want a chance in hell to beat Obama we need someone that can get new voters, independents and liberals over on our side. Ron Paul simply is that guy. If we want to loose to Obama we pick one of the other 3 that’s in Obama’s back pocket.

    Let’s do what you say we, shun and ostracise the one guy the establishment is trying to blackout.. That’s just IGNORENT as its playing right in the hands of the establishment!

    This site has a lot of influence and we need to make the best choice. I find it hard to belive you are a real tea party supporter and you do not support Ron Paul????

    Back in 07 Ron Paul started the tea party craze. You seem like one of those NEO-CON’s that has hijacked and sold the tea party out to the establishment?

    Do you support Rand Paul or is it just his dad you can’t stand?

    I did my research on Ron Paul and Israel, he was the lone congressman that voted for Israel to attack Iran and let them control their own desiny and sovereignty. If he was against Israel he would have voted to I slave the people and force them to follow only Americas plan for them. While America is supplying and selling weapons to Israelis enemy’s!

    You have no grounds to call the 76 year old anti Israel that’s disgusting same when you NEO-CONS call him a racist. If he was a racist he would not make it his first order to decriminalise all non violent prisoners! The majority of those are blacks if he was a racist he would rather see them rot in a cage and never be let free!

    We need the minority vote for the GOP to beat Obama and so I say again Ron Paul is that guy! As a GOP republican I want the party to grow not crumble to the ground.

  • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

    There are three million registered Republicans in MN and roughly 49,000 showed up to caucus.

    Santorum wins caucuses because his organization can either buy the process or motivate small numbers of voters who may or may not show up in November. His results in states with actual elections is dismal. Watch Super Tuesday.

  • kenchely

    The Santorum wins this week were not in small states. They’re mid-sized states, with 10, 10, and 9 electoral votes respectively. They’re states with major metropolitan areas–the Twin Cities, St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver. Santorum won despite the presence of major media markets in which the Romney money advantage would play a role.

    Now, there’s a common denominator in Missouri and Minnesota. In both states, the largest Protestant denomination isn’t Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Methodist. It’s Lutheran. Members of the confessional Lutheran synods (Missouri Synod, Wisconsin Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Synod) tend to be VERY conservative and VERY Republican, and even members of the more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are more often than not conservative and Republican. Lutherans were probably a majority of the voters in the Minnesota Republican caucuses and a plurality of those in the Missouri primary. There are fewer Lutherans in Colorado, but Santorum’s win there was smaller, too. Basically, you saw that Santorum can get the Lutherans on board. That could be very important in November in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri, and to a lesser extent in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. What’s more, he did it despite the fact that the two Lutherans who had been running hadn’t endorsed him–Pawlenty endorsed Romney, and Bachmann hasn’t made an endorsement.

  • acat

    With noseplugs if necessary.

    Including the squishy middle, who actually *decide* the election.

    If Romney were doing better with the squishy middle, I’d be willing to tolerate him to get rid of Obama. Because he’s not, and because he seems to have no plan to *get* better, I’m hoping for not-Romney.

    That doesn’t mean I like Santorum – I think he’s further out of step with the independents – but I am happy if he can keep Romney from a clear victory.

    Mew

  • mikeymike143

    which is why he has never even won a single state in 3 times running as a presidential candidate.

    nobody on this site wants that lowlife paul and his friendless loser paulbots to spread their cancer in the republican party.

  • mikeymike143

    so i think u will soon be spreading your paulbot cancer on another site.

  • Dave_A

    Due to the requirement to get a 50%+1 majority of electoral votes, it is NOT POSSIBLE for a ’3rd party’ to win the presidency.

    Period. Full stop.

    Any 3rd party would simply take EVs away from the ‘major’ party it’s most closely aligned with, AT BEST resulting in a brokered presidential election (eg, the state-delegations to the House of Representatives pick the President), and at worst making a Dem win easier…

    You MUST have 270 Electoral Votes to win the Presidency – no matter how many parties are competitive. This ‘math’ essentially mandates a 2-party system.

    Even worse, though, since STATES award EVs based on simple-majority vote, a 3rd party that is ‘more conservative’ will MOST LIKELY do nothing more than ensure a Democrat win, by splitting the right’s vote & giving the Dems a ‘simple majority’ in battleground states.

    NO GOOD can come of a 3rd party.

  • snappy101

    Besides the great timing of Obama’s flare up on his war on religion, I really think some of it is backlash against the TV News Media and the Romney inevitability mantra that started right after the other courted girls said “no” to entering the race. Santorum’s record is a history of “big government” voting. It’s time for more people than Ron Paul to call attention to that and for Santorum to address it.

  • Dave_A

    First off, all of the things you used to describe Santorum CONTRADICT the term ‘isolationist’. Perhaps you meant ‘interventionist’???

    Second, Rpn Paul’s positions are absurd… ‘Strong diplomatic relations?’ If you think ‘give the enemies of the US everything they demand, and hope they’re nice to us’ equates to strength, well you’re way off base… That, BTW, is Ron’s foreign-policy position (Unconditional, Abject Surrender)…

    In the real world, a/o the ‘Ron Paul Campaign to Destroy the United States’ world, there are genuine bad guys that you cannot negotiate with… Examples #1 & 2 from today’s world would be Al Queda, and the Taliban. From history? Nazi Germany is the best example, as evidenced by the result of all the ‘negotiating’ pre-WWII (A far worse war)…

    As for ‘spreading our soldiers across the world’, as one of those Soldiers, I can tell you that ‘across the world’ is where we BELONG. Our job is to fight wars, kill bad guys & win battles – not to police the border or fish idiots who equated ‘Hurricane Party’ with ‘Good Idea’ off of rooftops… ‘Bringing all the troops home’ would be disastrous for the force, unless you actually intend for America to fight her future wars on US soil, rather than borrowing somebody else’s country for a battlefield… Trust me, having walked the battlefields of the current war, I’m quite glad we’re playing an ‘away game’ here…

    BTW, humanity will never be ready for peace until Christ returns & forces it on us. Until then, the illusion of peace can only be maintained by the threat of precise & certain death & destruction (which takes ‘just launch a nuke at ‘em’ off the table for most scenarios) – a threat we are only able to back up because of our globally pre-positioned forces.

    Peace had it’s chance… The ‘peace dividend’ of the 90s got us 9/11. Since then, it’s been our turn – and giving war a chance has worked out splendidly, so far….

  • Dave_A

    And he is in no way a RINO…

    That’s the funny part – back when W was in office, he was ‘KKKarl Rove’ to the libs – the man occupying the ‘Conservative boogeyman’ slot now held by the Koch Brothers… He was talked about the same way that some on the right talk about Soros…

    The thing about Rove and those like him, is that they recognize that you can’t advance your ideology if you don’t WIN ELECTIONS first…

    That’s why he’s been against the ‘insane’ Angle/O’Donell/etc wing of the Tea Party – the one that cost the GOP control of the Senate, and thus ‘set the table’ for most of the congressional cave-ins since 2010…

    Ideological purity means nothing if you can’t win the seats/votes to make use of it (just ask Ron Paul how well ‘no compromise’ has worked for him – he’s been abjectly ‘pure’ to his twisted ideology, but because of that he’s gotten NONE OF IT enacted into law, even when he had the Democrat Party in his corner (on pacifisim/the current wars))….

  • joeydavis

    I’m in central NC.

    Cut my teeth in the Gingrich Revolution of 1994.

  • powertothepeople

    While I respect, although do not understand, the belief of many catholics and some other religions against any form of birth control, please do not try to make the statement that all of us who believe in the absolute sanctity of life also support ending birth control or that in order to be considered anti abortion one must be against birth control. It would be a blatant misstatement.

    I am against killing any child once they have been conceived. I am not against two adults acting responsible and using some form of birth control in order to not conceive which would place them in the position of having an unwanted baby which they may kill. An empty womb is an empty womb and you can not kill empty. It is the moment a child is conceived that a life is formed and needs to be protected.

    Catholics and others believe what they believe and that is fine. But I am more than willing to put up my decades of support for life against anyone else and I absolutely support the use of birth control. In fact, have used it quite often myself when I was younger and my wife’s womb was fertile.

    How hard is this to figure out?

  • Dave_A

    The closest thing to a ‘Reagan’ we had was Rick Perry, and we all saw where that went…

    None of the ‘giants of Conservatism’ wanted in on this circus, and with the way the electorate has behaved thru the primary season, who can blame them?

    The problem is simple:

    You have one group, the ‘Establishment’ that takes a win-at-any-cost approach to everything, and they are with Romney because they consider him the ‘most electable’ candidate.

    The remaining group wants such absolute ideological perfection, that they fragment every which way & won’t accept ANY candidate.

    The fickle ‘feeding frenzy’ that has first flocked to, then hen-pecked to bits every single Not-Romney candidate, is something none of the ‘Greats’ want to deal with…

    The only one who has benefited from this ‘Christ himself couldn’t get nominated’ standard, has been the one man that has never had to face any of it, because he’s never competed for the support of this group – ROMNEY.

    Because in the end, we’re stuck with 2 losers, a lunatic, and Romney has replaced McCain as ‘the least bad choice of what’s left’…

    Thanks perfectionists, you’ve let your desire for ‘perfect’ eliminate all the ‘good’….

  • Dave_A

    With his ‘hopey-changey-we-are-the-world’ rhetoric…

    And that includes a large number of (especially young) women….

    Abortion isn’t really a major issue there – The issue is that Obama’s ‘I have a vision of bright rainbows, peace & harmony/day-when-the-seas-begin-to-fall’ message resonated with female voters…

    The great ‘myth’ of 08 is that the GOP lost because McCain wasn’t conservative enough or mean enough… No. The GOP lost because Obama sold the ‘middle’ on his ‘vision’…

    The problem is, that when it came down to actual policy, it was more bar-pick-up than true-love, and America woke up to a severe case of morning-after-regret… Which gave us 2010, and (if we hadn’t royally screwed it up with internal infighting) was set to serve up 2012 on a platter…

  • cbartlett

    Got this smile in an email today:

    Presidents’ Day
    I was eating lunch with my 6-year-old and I asked her, “What is the 20th of February?”
    She answered, “Presidents’ Day!”
    I asked her: “What does Presidents’ Day mean?” and I waited for something about Washington or Lincoln.
    She replied, “Presidents’ Day is when President Obama steps out of the White House, and if he sees his shadow, we have another year of unemployment!”
    You know, it really hurts when hot coffee spurts out your nose!

    ABO – Anybody But Obama. Please.

  • Lesstressrx

    An interview with Lindsey Graham whom I very seldom agree with. Everyone should see before you write Newt off. It has insights that few have talked about. I hope you take a few moments to watch the video.http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/on-the-record/2012/02/02/why-there-no-love-lost-between-gingrich-and-some-his-former-gop-colleages-congress

  • cbartlett

    No matter which of these ends up with the “R” nomination, for the general we need to focus on the economy and that we desperately need conservative SC appointments. Many of the young (20-30 somethings) “conservative” voters I have talked to are looking for someone to lead this economy in a totally different direction that BHO is taking it. They are not entirely sure WHY it’s not working (thank you public education!) but they KNOW it’s not working. But – over and over I hear the constant hammering about how social issues are overshadowing a candidate’s fiscal policies. These younger folks say – I don’t LIKE abortion or gay marriage but I wish they’d just quit talking about it. Social issues don’t belong in this fight. Repeal Obamacare, get the government out of our lives and get the economy moving. From the mouth of babes. If we want their votes – we’d better listen.

  • red_oakster

    Santorum is playing well in the Heartland. Newt is playing well in the tea party South. This will create additional headaches for the Mittster.

  • red_oakster

    nt

  • acat

    …among mormons, who are in large enough concentrations west of the Rockies to skew elections.

    Note – this is not a religious judgement, merely an observation of fact.

    Mew

  • acat

    No delegates awarded. Not a one. It’s pure image.

    Not that there’s anything *wrong* with that, but .. don’t draw the conclusion that Santorum’s 14 GOP delegates are any closer to Romney’s hundred.

    Mew

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …and thinking that LG was positioning himself to be re-elected as aligned proudly with The Newt.

  • 6t9boss

    Yes Carl Rove is insane..because a Conservative ( Who Carl said could never win a primary in the Northeast) upset his apple cart! Ol’ RINO Carl was backing the Liberal Establishment GOP candidate when O’Donell won the primary then Carl had a tantrum! and pronounced she’ll never win. Of course she would not; Carl had to protect his position so he dug her grave right along with Steele.

    Your quote:Ideological purity means nothing if you can?t win the seats/votes

    Apparently leaving your principles on the floor does not advance your agenda either. It just confirms what a stupidly insane mistake you made voting for the letter “R”.

    Carl Did not do a thing in 2010 excpet bash Conservatives while a grass roots group threw everyone out! Carl tries to takes credit where credit is not due…VOTERS did that!

    I spell his name with a “C” because he is a sellout to the Moderate/Liberal base.

  • 1spark

    The longer we are unable to pick a candidate against Obama. The less time we have to really get behind our presidential pick. This is what the Obama Administration wants all along…

    to be fighting to the bitter end and have little time to build a solid case for independents to vote for our candidate.

    We need to decide this nomination… and need to decide fast. The longer we keep this up, it’s only going to hurt us on November 6th.

  • tetrisd85

    Changing the image will change the delegate allocation.

  • http://www.firstchevalier.com Mark Malcolm

    all I’m saying is in this field of Not Romney’s (and not the candidate I would prefer) we are going to be left with something less than desirable form a conservative standpoint OR Barack Obama. I’m struggling with what I want to select as our next four years.

    On the one hand I’d rather someone with a D after their name be responsible for destroying the greatest free nation on earth.

    On the other hand I’d rather not give that D the chance but given the choices before me I risk supporting someone who is NOT conservative, MIGHT also destroy the country (because he’s not conservative), and WILL reinforce/embolden the establishment Republicans to not take conservatives seriously.

    Honestly, I just don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I’m exploring my options here, and with other discussions.

  • http://www.firstchevalier.com Mark Malcolm

    Given the field of candidates to choose from at this point where do we turn in your opinion?

    I’m not saying your doing this, but I’m getting a little tired of hearing from people this candidate or that candidate can’t win, but no solution is proposed other than another flawed candidate the other side says can’t win.

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …on my Diary site…which would specifically/immediately remedy this concern.

  • Juggernaut

    go to the winner but no promise. Last night after my morning response I read Romneybots are making friends in MO and MN. Probably trying to buy votes with job promises. I didn’t know about the delegate issue since I didn’t watch the campaign results.

  • Juggernaut

    political junkies. We’ll hold our noses and push the red button regardless. Obama is damaged too plus his base has been alienated on many issues like energy, jobs, taxes and caving in to the gop. We’ll be alright by super Tuesday.

  • Juggernaut

    and go for it. Maybe VA will get its act together. From what I read Newt and Perry had enough signatures but lefties and righties said some were invalid. Sounded rigged.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Romney v Paul is just like Edwards v Duke, I believe.