Replies

What's your excuse for fourth place Santorum staying in?

At this point, he has no chance whatsoever. If he cared about conservatism, he's exit so his supporters who overwhelmingly have Newt as their 2nd choice would feel free to cast that ballot.

The problem is these voters are naive, not strategic. If you vote for Santorum in FL, Romney wins and it's essentially ended the primary contest after just four states. If Newt wins, Romney has to fight at least through Super Tuesday. If they think Newt may implode with another month ahead and give Santorum his second shot, the only chance for Romney not to sew this up now is to vote Newt to keep the race going.

What's your excuse for fourth place Santorum staying in?

I don't need to excuse anyone for running, and I appreciate the primary process for vetting and contrasting the candidates. If you prefer anointing your candidate, then may I suggest you're in the wrong party?

P.S. He's in 3rd place, Paul's in 4th.

At this point, he has no chance whatsoever.

Sorry to be blunt, but in a race to win 1144 votes, where the leader has 33, how pompous do you have to be to declare who is "in" or "out" of the race at this point? Wasn't Newt written off about 1700 times already? I think it's time to stop listening to the talking heads and do your own thinking on this one.

If you vote for Santorum in FL, Romney wins and it's essentially ended the primary contest after just four states.

Again, really??? Just forget the other 36 states, eh? They're all just mindless lemmings after all, so let's settle for McCain or Gingrich or whoever else while we can. That strategy's done fantastically in the past!

If he cared about conservatism...

Wow. If you truly believe that conservatism is the key issue, then how do you justify voting for Newt, who has repeatedly and proudly called himself a PROGRESSIVE??? Do you need to hear him saying it repeatedly in his own words, because the audio and video is readily available.

Or more likely, have you already heard all of that, and just dismiss it for some reason? If YOU really care about conservatism, how do you justify ignoring those facts?

Frankly, I don't agree with any of the candidates on everything (as it probably should be), but Mitt and Newt disqualify themselves in my book because they've both shown themselves to be able to talk a good game, but also be untrustworthy and flip-flop on many conservative principles. They've both supported the same VERY big government policies the O has shoved down our throats, so I don't see how either can contrast with him enough on those big issues to win in the general. 2008 all over again.

Of the other 2, I think Paul has shown himself to be incredibly naive in foreign policy, and therefore completely unsuited for commander-in-chief. That said, he'd be a make Treasury Secretary.

The leaves Santorum by default at this point. I'm not thrilled on all his positions, but he does stand for conservative principles more consistently than the "big 2", he's shown to be of better character and reliability, and I think he does offer enough contrast to beat O.

If I'm wrong, then we're getting another 4 years of one kind of Progressive or another, so I figure we might as well go for conservatism while there's still a chance.