Hold on, hoss -- weren't you paying attention? The GOP-e encouraged every conservative they could, to jump in. They knew what would happen: The conservatives would split up the available money that would back a conservative (there's about enough money out there, said a "pro" pundit about this time last year, to sustain ONE "insurgent" [real conservative] candidacy), and by succeeding in tempting Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain all to jump in, eclipsed any chance that anyone to the right of Romney might have to attract enough funding to really challenge the GOP-e's boy.
By which I mean, any conservative candidate who could win -- like, oh, say,
SARAH PALIN.
Anyone like her.
Please read up on some GOP history. There were 8 candidates in the 1980 primaries. Only one of them was named Ronald Reagan. The other 7, from Andersen to Baker to Bush were all, in today’s political lexicon GOPe s. Did powerful conservatives somehow convince all 7 to run so Reagan could grab the nomination? And if the current group that ran this year are so easily manipulated how could any of them merit support?