Posted on 03/05/2012 7:11:41 AM PST by Golden Gate
This is NOT intended to be only a Rick Santorum thread.
GOP conservatives need to work together to prevail over Mitt Romney, who is the lame GOP-e candidate. Conservatives need to cinch / clinch the GOP nomination ASAP! For the final decision of who should be the actual 2012 GOP nominee, this should be an end-of-August national convention decision, and NOT a Spring primary decision. Conservatives and the GOP as a whole need the extra time to make the best final decision about the nominee.
Several weeks before the Iowa caucus, there was all of this discussion of having one candidate or another drop out. No suitable conservative candidate needs to drop out. The good idea that I had then but did not post, was to have the good conservative candidates work together and take turns in winning any primary that was "winner-take-all". Just make sure that conservative delegates go to the convention to make the best decision.
But it recent weeks, there are FReepers who are sounding an alarm and suggesting a reality check about the selection of delegates to the GOP convention. It may be only a few experts who understand the actual rules and process, and we novices may not be at all happy with the eventual results of the delegate selection process, or what can happen at the convention.
So with this in mind, I gave up on the idea of several good candidates sharing victories in the primaries in a effort to stop the GOP-e candidate. My idea for the last couple of weeks has been that GOP primary voters need to rally around one temporary placekeeper conservative candidate to win the nomination ASAP in March or April. Make it a done deal, and all conservative candidates, leaders and activists immediately begin the general election campaign.
The explicit understanding and gentlemen's agreement is that this temporary placekeeper `nominee' is only for the purpose to stop the GOP-e candidate(s) here in the primary, and hopefully at the convention.
The current conservative candidates, and all other conservative leaders and activists should immediately begin to challenge the Democrat leaders, candidates, and activists to discussions and debates. Don't brag about what a dream candidate might do in debates in the future. Have all conservative candidates and leaders begin to get the experience and prove themselves right now.
If we begin to do this now in March, then as we approach the convention we will have a very clear and realistic idea of who are truly the best nominees (Pres./VP) to represent the GOP in the general election. Again, let the final decision of the GOP nominee be a August convention decision, and not a Winter or Spring primary decision.
I understand the concept of party primaries. But there is continued talk that the GOP-e is more interested in defeating GOP conservatives than they are in defeating the Democrats in 2012. I have my ideas of an ideal primary process. I hope to present them for future reference. But the GOP-e party rules (and the various state election laws) may work against a good primary.
We don't know if the eventual nominee(s) at the convention will be strongly conservative. If there is an unacceptable GOP-e nominee, will this cause conservatives to implement third party contingencies?
There is all of this talk about "social issues". In some ways, our approach to this is rather lame. I know about the three-legged stool in conservative thought and politics. It is a lame example. Right To Life, for example, is a Founding Principle, and NOT a mere "social issue". We may need to have a table that has four or more legs, and our important Founding Principles need to be the first leg.
The public, the Democrats, and the media, all consider Rick Santorum to be the most well known and outspoken for right to life. That is the primary reason I suggest Rick be designated as the GOP conservative's temporary placeholder `nominee' to cinch the nomination as soon as possible.
There are candidates who eagarly or relucantly say "Yah, I'm pro~lyfe, ...now can we talk about something that is really important..."
Here in the primary, I would like to see conservatives make a strong presentation of right to life and other important conservative principles. If we can not effectively and successfully present our conservative message to all of the American public in the next five and half months before the convention, then maybe we don't deserve the strongest conservative as our nominee for 2012. And, the convention delegates may not want to select a strong conservative nominee.
What we should do now, is make a strong start, and make our best effort. Whether or not Rick Santorum is the eventual official nominee is immaterial. That should be a convention decision. What is important now, is first to use a placeholder to secure a conservative nomination now in March or April. And also, to immediately begin making a strong start in general election mode, and presenting our best conservative message to the American public. We can not waste precious weeks and months limiting our efforts to only GOP voters. And again, no suitable candidates need to drop out.
I also think that conservatives continue the bad habit of being way too focused on specualtion about the power and future success of various dream candidates. Don't wait for the general election. Last summer or fall the conservative candidates and leaders should have begun to challenge the Democrat leaders, candiates, and activists to discussions and debates. Don't brag about what a dream candidate might do in debates in the future. Have all conservative candidates, leaders and activists begin to get the experience and prove themselves right now. In addition to debating on a national presidential level, our prime conservative leaders and candidates should now also be willing to discuss and debate the issues with Democrat candidates on a state and local level. Start now, there is no time to waste.
Voters in the Super Tuesday GOP primary should cast their vote for Rick Santorum, so that conservatives can secure the GOP nomination ASAP!
Rick/Newt
I love Sarah, even when to see her when she came to town & got to stand on stage behind her. I pray she is not working with the rnc to help romney.
Read THIS! = Brices Crossroads - from another thread:
Romney WILL get the nomination unless this narrows to a two man race and fast.
Right now, Mittens has 364 delegates and Santorum, his nearest competitor has 164. the race could be evened in a week if Newt were to announce that he had released his 100 delegates to voter for Santorum and that he was endorsing and campaigning for Santorum. Santorum would win Majorities in Alabama and Mississippi on March 13, giving him all those delegates (90), which would even the race. Time is running short. To be consequential, Newt must strike hard and he must strike quickly.
The ball is in Newt’s court on this one. He knows Romney is a likely loser to Obama and that Mittens would be a very poor President in the unlikely event that he won.. He has a chance to do something for his country, not unlike what Edmund G. Ross did in saving the Presidency in 1868. It would be hard for him and for his supporters, but it is the right thing to do.
Gingrich and Santorum are killing each other. - by xzins (Since 1998)
Rick and Newt need to get together and cream Romney. - by Linda Frances
* Rick as temp Placekeeper Nominee *
The FR Golden Gate Plan! => Post 55 "GOP Brokered Primary Now!" thread
61 posted on Wednesday March 07, 2012 by Linda Frances
THAT'S The Spirit! :)
However, To ALL: In the primary, the voters are going to have to pick one to secure the conservative nomination.
Post 55 "GOP Brokered Primary Now!" thread
Rick Santorum
Track progress w/ "View Replies".
Posted to California! - Wed am.
A shorter post may suffice: http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/profiles?location=53
Brokered convention or Conservative party. Even Rush might be a part of a new legitimate conservative party since the Republicans have thrown him under the bus.
TWB
Please Post Your Current Info about Delegate Count TO THIS Anchor Post,
and Cite Reference -
FYI - A good source of election info is:
Note: There are "Soft" (Pledged + Unpledged) Delegates, and "Hard" Delegates.
Explaination at Link. - Live & Learn!
Republican - Need to Nominate = 1,144 Delegates
Democratic - Need to Nominate = 2,778 Delegates
http://www.TheGreenPapers.com/P12/
Click "View Replies" for info -
The FR Golden Gate Plan! => Post 55 "GOP Brokered Primary Now!" thread
(General bumps - to post 9)
That's pretty close to an endorsement.
Todd has endorsed Gingrich.
Both Gingrich and Santorum need to work to push Romney out, and then Santorum needs to support Gingrich because, as stated above, he is the one to defeat Obama.
Unfortunately Romney is the GOP/DEM/MSM/ROVE/FOXNEWS's Golden Boy and the "next in line" and they will do anything they can to help Romney buy this election. Which is what he is doing.
It looks like good old "Mint" Romney will have to dip into his billions to pull this off, money talks.
“The ball is in Newt’s court on this one. He knows Romney is a likely loser to Obama and that Mittens would be a very poor President”
Perhaps Newt thinks, as I and many of Newt’s supporters do, that Romney has a much better chance of beating Obama than Santorum does. You may not agree with us, but it’s not an unreasonable opinion.
Perhaps Newt also thinks, as I and many of Newt’s supporters do, that Mitt might be a poor president due to questionable credentials on social conservatism, but Rick might also be a poor president due to questionable credentials on fiscal conservatism.
All three would be a million times better than Obama as president. I would strongly prefer Santorum over Romney as president, but think he’d need divine intervention to beat Obama, so I’d prefer Romney as the nominee.
You’re dreaming if you think Newt will quit. He probably sees this like I do. (I think like him on everything I’ve heard him say in the debates... we seem to be like-minded.)
Here’s what I think he and Santorum should do... there are a few more proportional-allocation states that will hold primaries before winner-take-all states begin. They should announce an agreement that whichever one of them has the most PLEDGED (i.e. bound and required to vote for them on the first ballot) delegates at the end of the proportionals stays in the race, and the one with the lesser amount will drop out and become the V.P. nominee.
The problem with both your plan and mine, is that even though both would probably rather be VP than drop out completely, both also probably don’t want the other as VP, believing the other doesn’t help the ticket enough to beat Obama. (Even though I think Santorum probably believes Newt as VP would hurt his ticket, I disagree... that would possibly be almost as helpful as the divine intervention I think he would need.) Anyhow, they will probably work together only as a last resort if they both decide it’s the only possible way to the nomination. I don’t see that happening until the winner-take-all states begin voting.
It’s almost 5 pm, and 73 Posts. There are several people I want to respond to. The tone of the discussion seems good to me. I need another summary post to either answer questions or make some things more clear.
People can continue the discussion without me. I would like to get another post written this evening. If not, it could be Fri or Sat. Thanks for the responses so far.
What Mr. Santorum has discovered in this campaign is that for a large number of voters, a connection has surfaced between Barack Obama's economic policies and the issue of personal freedom. The potency of the latter is what's new, and a vulnerability for this presidency.
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