Sarah Palin: "I am convinced that Governor Romney, if he is our nominee and if he is elected President, he will know to surround himself with those who inherently know to go right, to err on the side of smaller, smarter government, and that gives me a lot of comfort"
"I am convinced" is a lot stronger than your "she hopes". On the other hand, note she did not say Romney would be conservative, but that he would surround himself with conservatives. Still, she seems a lot more comforted by that thought than many people here are.
And she did say she wanted Newt and Ron Paul to stay in the race.
What really shocks me is that some people are surprised by what she said..she has been saying for months that she will support whoever the nominee is..she has been supporting Newt from the beginning but if he does not win she will support whoever that person is. People can agree with that or they don’t have to but what she said tonight isn’t exactly breaking news, in fact it was nothing new. She also said she wants Newt and Ron Paul to both stay in the race so NO she did NOT endorse Romney. Michele Bachmann has said the same thing, she will also support whoever the nominee is so if anyone can accuse Sarah Palin of being a RINO(Which is beyond ridiculous!) then the same can be said for Bachmann
I appreciate you transcribing exactly what she said I apologize for the misquote