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I tried to warn you people what would happen if Santorum started falling, but nobody believed me. Rick was the absolute last hope for many people who had moved from Bachmann, Cain, and Perry.

No, Newt was and still is their best hope.

Their tired of having their candidate shot down not just by the MSM but by their own conservative people. It’s turning them off and there beginning to capitulate.

Now you know how Newt supporters feel. No one was more hammered by the so-called conservative media and establishment more than him.

We Newt supporters tried to tell everybody that if they backed off of Newt and went to Rick instead after Florida, they would hand the election to Romney. We pointed to what happened with Huckabee in 2008 splitting the conservative vote. The conservative vote can not afford to be divided against Romney in this primary if we are to win. We tried to tell everyone that Santorum only looked like a better alternative to some because he hadn't been vetted and tested under fire like Newt had. We said that the best thing that could happen for conservatives was for Rick to drop out of the race and let the votes coalesce around Newt. People didn't listen. They let a month's worth of media, money and momentum go to Rick instead of Newt, just setting him up for a big fall once Romney unleashed his attack machine.

It is the Rick supporters (in addition to the Romney supporters of course) who will be responsible for handing this election to Romney if that's what happens. The Newt supporters have been right on track and on the path to victory all along. They are backing the candidate who has been battle-tested and proven his resiliency and ability to succeed on a large scale on the national level throughout his career. There's precious little time for support to come back to Newt now, but that HAS to happen for Romney to be defeated. Newt has been showing again in the debate and in an ongoing string of fantastic speeches and policy proposals that he is still the heavyweight in the room and I hope it starts resonating with people.

This is the biggest load of cr@p I’ve ever read. Are you actually try to pin the blame of a potential Romney nomination on the shoulders of the Santorum supporters? Let me have what you’re smoking because I’ve been feeling depressed for days watching the race go down the tubes.

This is what you hardcore Newt supporters don’t get. You don’t understand the electorate and you don’t understand the real factors that win elections. In a 1 on 1 of Romney vrs Newt, Newt gets crushed. That’s a fact. He can’t win Seniors, Hispanics, or females. Where does he win outside the South?

The other problem with Newt is that he lacks two factors that were important to both Bachmann, Cain, Perry, and even Reagan supporters: TRUST and LIKEABILITY. Santorum’s got warts, but guess what? Generally conservatives TRUST Santorum more than they trust Gingrich. They also give him higher favorability ratings. It’s not enough to just speak conservatism. Go back to Reagan’s two landslides. Conservatism may have won Reagan those elections, but TRUST and LIKEABILITY gave him his landslides.

Newt’s NOT going to make a comeback. You clearly see this in the polls. Santorum is dropping, but Gingrich isn’t benefitting because many of Santorum’s supporters don’t see Gingrich as a viable alternative to Mitt Romney. It’s that simple.

Despite the completely unnatural heights to which NG has been raised up on FR, there are posts upon posts in the archives denouncing Gingrich as a RINO, Establishment Republcian (grouped in with Mitt and Rudy), and a “genuine phony”. NOTHING has changed except the fear and panic among people here to stop Romney even if it means compromising their principles and having a willing suspension of disbelief, which is precisely what many Newt supporters have done.

I’ve watched Newt for a long time and I know the game he plays. For every brilliant, articulate statement Newt makes for something, you can usually find a brilliant, articulate statement Newt makes against the same thing! This isn’t by accident, it’s by design. He’s a master at developing the “technically correct” answer which gives him cover to chose the statement in his past that most reflects what he thinks the voters want.

The Payroll Tax debate. TARP. Climate Change. Gay Marriage. Right-Wing Social Engineering. Big Tent Republicanism. Tea Party Conservatism. Mandates., etc, etc, etc. You can find a statement at one point or another of Newt arguing both FOR and AGAINST these issues. With a system like this, it’s hard to be proven wrong when you’ve taken every side. With Mitt Romney, we call this kind of thinking: flip-flopping, but with Newt, we call it a “superior oration”.

I’m sorry, I don’t buy it. I think Newt’s insincere and a complete opportunist who cannot be Trusted. Many Santorum supporters, who were previously on board with Bachmann, Cain, and Perry, feel the same way, which is why there will be no Newt comeback. Abscence of Trust is the biggest disfunction of a working team.