There’s not much of a clear path to the nomination for either Newt or Rick if one drops out, or if they both stay in. In any scenario, they’re most likely going to end up in a contested convention, and Romney still has a chance to get just enough delegates to win outright in any scenario. It’s also very hard to see which option would help them end up with more delegates and Romney with less. If Romney would gain ANY votes from either of them, then it might be better if they both stay in for proportional states. Like Oklahoma, all 3 got 13 or 14 delegates each. If one dropped out, would all the votes worth 13 delegates go to the other guy or would Romney get some? For WTA states, it would be better if one dropped out, but unfortunately most of those states are Romney territory anyway (New Jersey, Utah). The reality is it would be best if they stayed in and would announce to the voters to vote for one or the other in specific states, but that’s awkward of course.
Actually it will be even worse because there is nothing you can put behind Romney to make him more palatable to those voters. Even I who has voted Republican since Regan and forced myself to go vote for those other losers will not be able to vote for Romney this time.
The GOP will finally have gone to far for me.