As I see things, there are now only five choices left for conservatives.
1. Listen to the calls of the Republican leadership and some conservatives like Herman Cain to “get behind Romney.”
2. Give up and go home, and either not vote or pull a reluctant lever with no enthusiasm and little if any campaigning for whatever candidate is left in the primary and general election.
3. Try to go third-party, most likely with the Constitution Party, either to send a message to the Republican leadership that they can't take conservatives for granted or as a serious effort to turn the GOP into the Whigs of 2012, but in both cases knowing there's no realistic chance of defeating Obama this year.
4. Get behind Ron Paul as a protest vote, since even he knows he has no chance at winning.
5. Get behind Newt Gingrich as the only conservative candidate left in the Republican primary who has any chance of winning.
#1 (Romney) and #4 (Paul) are outright verboten on Free Republic, and for good reason. #2 and #3 are giving up on the 2012 race, believing that either Romney or Obama are going to win this year no matter what we do.
I'm not a defeatist. Therefore, I think #5 makes the most sense.
Does anyone else have a better idea that actually has a chance of beating Romney and then Obama? I don't.
Let's try to forget the bad blood. For those who can't, I understand why some people sincerely cannot in good conscience work for Gingrich. If that's your view, please at least choose option #2, stand down, and let those of us who still want to defeat Romney try to do so.
That job is going to be hard enough as it is.
“5. Get behind Newt Gingrich as the only conservative candidate left in the Republican primary who has any chance of winning.”
What chance does he have, when he’s getting 5 percent in Wisconsin?
Show me how you can get to 1155 with Newt? I don’t see it. He’s never even lead in delegates, at any point of the race.
Here’s what I see happening.
Romney gets 70+ percent from here on out, in every state, a la McCain. He hits 1155 before Texas.
The only choice for conservatives now is 3, not 5.