Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Over the last few days prominent conservative Republicans (and other moderate ones) have called on Santorum and Gingrich to concede for the sake of the Republican party's chances in November.

These include Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Tom Coburn and John Ashcroft. Now today the head of the ACU (American Conservative Union) has done the same.

I have been saying this for two months now! If the Repubs are going to have any chance to win in November we have to stop attacking each other and unify behind a candidate.

It is clear there is no way for RS or NG to earn enough delegates to win the nomination. All they can do is prolong the animosity and insure a contentious convention instead of spending the next months focusing on campaigning against Obama. I believe at this point these two men are just running on ego and not putting the interest of the party and country ahead of that ego.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

To be fair, at his current pace, it's nearly impossible for Romney to "earn enough delegates to win the nomination" as well!

I am not convinced this primary has/is hurt[ing] the final vote numbers (come Dec.). A resistant conservative faction will be more likely to embrace the ultimate nominee if they see leaders within the party that have similar reservations but endorsed in the end. The RNC needs conservative delegates!

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

CC1,
I don't see any reason for any candidate to drop out. Romney may be the frontrunner, but more Republicans have voted against him than they have for him.

The reality, at this moment, is that Romney has won 50% +1 in 7 of 33 states. 26 states or territories had more voting against him. So, again, there is no need to end the primary.

The other candidates have a responsibility to their base to stay in until Tampa. We haven't voted in Texas yet and I would appreciate getting to vote for who I want in the Primary. My choice isn't Romney. We also have a debate coming up in May that Gingrich, Santorum and Paul agreed to. Last time I checked it is only April. Romney is the only candidate who didn't agree to attend.

Virginia is probably going to be under investigation for rigging it's primary. Arizona and Florida jumped the gun on their original rules which forbids states from awarding a winner-take-all before April 1. Santorum plans to challenge this before the convention. The Romney camp manipulating the rules is going to have a negative effect on the convention floor.

It's not all that cut and dried. And it's not going to hurt the Republican Party to have a brokered or contested convention.

Romney needs to earn his delegates. It's a fear tactic to say that it will hurt us in the election. We need the process to play out how it was set up to play out. Let everyone vote in their primaries. If the GOP is worried about what is going on in this election cycle, look at Romney's record and don't get mad at us Republicans who want their vote to count.

If Romney was such a bang up candidate, he wouldn't be having this problem. Even McCain was further ahead in the primary season, at this time, than Romney is. Don't tell us to convalesce around Romney. If he gets the delegates we will, but we aren't ready to do that at this time.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I try to put myself in the shoes of a "swing voter" (which I really am not). They are ultimately the ones thst determine the outcome of the election. Would I be more prone to vote for a candidate that fought all the way, or would I place a vote because a certain party had its leaders rally to their man early on???

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I would be more prone to vote for the candidate that fought all the way. That's the big turn off toward Romney - the party leaders are rallying around their man early. And what has happened is that even though Rubio and Ryan jumped on the endorsement, it didn't change a thing for Romney. He isn't any more palatable than he was before.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

[My American spirit wants to rise up and cheer them on! I can't stand the GOP Establishment. I want an historical victory!!! Go boys, bring it!!! It would be so cool for them to pull it off! Maybe they won't, but I want them to try.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I believe you guys are dead wrong and the ego of Santorum and Gingrich are going to likely cost us the election in November (Hoovie in my country we have it in November - not sure where your December elections is!!!)

Nothing good is coming from the Repub candidates spending another five months bashing each other. I am astounded you guys think it is a good plan.

I believe keeping Obama from furthering his far left agenda in a second term should take precedence this election over trying to get the most conservative nominee.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I don't mean to be mean but I think you are delusional if you think there is a chance of them "pulling it off". I can tell you right now they are turning off as many Repub voters, like myself, as they are making ones like you happy and cheering. Santorum is a terrible campaigner and Gingrich, although brilliant, has a lot of issues I have previously outlined I won't go into again. Suffice it to say I think he has no business running for President. If we have to stoop to his moral character for a leader out of over 300 million citiziens we truly are doomed.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I do not see how this is actually going to do anything to our chances against Obama. I believe that he will be vulnerable when opposed by any Republican. His own policies and speeches will encourage this. If the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare, then the weakest point in Romney's armor is removed leaving him in a stronger position. If it stands, then he will have a major weakness. Paul and Gingrich should both drop as neither of them have a chance to win.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Non-weekly church going Catholics voted for Romney over Santorum 54%-19% in Wisconsin tonight. And Romney, also, only won voters over 45.

He needs to earn his delegates.

Don't worry, I will vote my party line, but I like a good fight - bring it! :heeheehee

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

WOW, just WOW! If we don't get a conservative nominee, we can fold up our flags. Sick of the status quo. I want to, at least, fight for it.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Did I say DEC? Probably just a typo...

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

A few facts on the Brokered Convention.

In 1920, Warren G. Harding captured the nomination in a brokered convention coming from single-digits. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln won on the third vote, in a brokered convention. And in 1976, we came very close to getting Ronald Regan four years earlier through a brokered convention.

The way it looks to me now is that the Conservatives have all but given up in the face of Romney's money machine attack campaign. Ugh!

A brokered convention can set a lot of things right in the party. It's our last chance for a do-over when you view the Establishment as pushing a flawed candidate on us, i.e. Mitt Romney. Conservatives may have their chance to unite behind a non-establishment candidate. :thumbsup

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

That is a long shot. Can you imagine that shake-up? Not just for Republicans, but for the Dems' planning too. They would have to start from scratch. How terrible! :spit

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Like totally! LOL!

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Republican Party of Texas Passes Resolutions Warning Romney, Supporting Tom Delay and Approving Abortion Laws

There were five resolutions passed at this meeting. The most pressing and striking resolution that passed was a resolution warning Mitt Romney to go to the Texas Presidential Debate that the Republican Party of Texas is putting together before the Texas Primary on May 29th, 2012. Gingrich, Santorum and Paul have accepted the invitation to this nationally televised Texas Presidential Debate. Romney has not accepted.

We basically told Romney that if he does not go to the debate, then we will take it to mean that he does not care about our large Republican state; and therefore, he should not get any of our delegates.

That is a strong warning from the largest Republican State Party in America!

The exact wording of the resolution does not say the word "warning", but in my opinion, as one of the people who was there and voted on this resolution, the intent and tone of the resolution was to tell Romney that he had better not ignore us and had better come to our debate or else!

Texas has 155 delegates, and if we give our delegates to another candidate, then that might be plenty enough to keep Romney from securing the nomination and force a brokered convention.

http://www.texasgopvote.com/mitt-rom...elay-an-004025

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

More reality and the Democrats are rubbing their hands and watching this.

Mitt has won a majority of the vote in just 4 states out of 31 so far: MA, ID, NV and VA, where Rick & Newt were not on ballot.

And this from American Spectator:

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

'Cause you know you want to read this stuff! Another that was sent to me.

"With all legitimate polls averaged Mitt Romney has now broken his all-time high as far as what percentage of the GOP likely voters want him for President: 37% -- and this is most likely the same percentage who will vote for him in the General. At this point in the 2008 race, McCain was over 50% and HE couldn't beat Obama. This is astonishing to me, that Romney's actually got nearly 4 out of 10 Republicans convinced he's the right guy. I estimate that 6 out of 10 GOP likely voters will become "likely sitters home." Here we go, 2008 all over again....(sigh). Looking forward to 2016 when we can try once again to put a true Conservative in the White House."

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

The brokered convention and the "chaos" produced will actually motivate more conservatives to become involved in the process-- especially when we see Romney booted and a true conservative carries our banner!

I want the brokered convention!

I'm sour on santoeria, but Newt is someone I could vote for-- if Newt pick santo for his VP, I would hold my nose and support my party. I'd rather see a Newt-Christie ticket! That would more than motivate the base, attract the swing voterrs and Independents!

Those calling for a Newt-Rubio ticket would simply be using Rubio as race bait and I hope our party stays away from that trash because it NEVER works as planned. I thought the GOP was above that, but this primary season has proven me wrong in that respect.


Under no circumstances will I vote for a ticket with Romney on it. I will work and campaign hard for Obama to win in Florida and my efforts (along with others) would be most effective where I live-- along the I-4 corridor.

What you guys don't understand is that I am not the only one that KNOWS Romney is not a conservative!

We don't want him!

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

IF it goes to a brokered convention, i expect to see at least one new heavy hitter appear out of nowhere. Bobby Jindal and/or others.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Shows the stupidity of Conservatives, if this is true!!!

Romney needs the others to withdraw and throw their support behind him, Romney is ready to go head to head with BO!! And he will win, can you imagine Conservatives who will vote for Obama over Mitt, by staying home. Give me a break, that is the height of stupid.

Neither Newt nor Rick, is strong enough for OB. And no magic bullet of a person is going to emerge at the convention, Mitt is it, now let's get OB out of office before he "fundamentally changes America". What a neophyte!!!

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Newt is dead in this campagin, get over it, Romney is conservative, Obama is a radical leftist!

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

In what universe has the AS speculation ever happened??? Forget it, Mitt is our best hope, we should elect him a landslide. Then continue to push for conservative policies. This country is split 50/50, the voting proves it, the hope for a far right candidate is a pipe dream.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

The author of the article at your link strong declares that he will support the nominee, how about you?

The next round of primaries is going to be telling, if Rick does not win big in PA, that should tell you something. If Rick wins big in PA and Mitt wins all the rest, Mitt wins 3/4 of the delegates in that round. Rick must win 80% of all remaining primaries to get the nomination, the math is not in his favor.

If Texas wants to have more influence in the nominations, we must have our primary earlier.

I love Rick and Newt, however in our current national environment I am a realist.

I have a much better view of Mitt, I believe his business experience and his conservative Mormon roots will serve the USA very well at this time. Sanity is what we need, the insanity in DC is out of control.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I'll vote the nominee, but I'm very unhappy with the way the GOP has strong armed this election and given us a pre-selected candidate.

The people that are connected with Rubio are the ones that pushed the Florida primary forward and got out the vote for Romney. Florida's actions, in fact, caused Iowa, New Hamshire, South Carolina and Utah to move their primaries to January. So the party wants that candidate chosen because states that raced to have their primaries first get to chose for the rest of the country. Why do we even have the primary system at all? Let’s allow those who are already elected endorse the candidate of their choice and we can save time and gas by not having to show up at the polls. Goodness, it is so nice to be relevant when we’re footing the bill for all their policies. It is not making me feel good to have to vote for the pre-selected GOP candidate just to get rid of Obama. I just don’t get the sense that the GOP understands the gravity of the country’s current situation.

I might even be willing to, I said might, give Romney a pass on the 10th Amendment grounds for his healthcare bill, except that he said we could use the Massachusetts bill for a national model. That only tells me that in his flip-flopping, etch a sketch manner, that he is actualy fine with the healthcare bill at the national level.

Does it bother you at all that Romney's electability numbers are so low going into a General Election? 60% of the voters still don't want him.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

For the narrative - A video of Newt explaining why he is staying in the race and what will happen at the convention. His voice is a little worse for wear.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Romney is not wanted.

I promise I will campaign AGAINST any ticket with Romney on it. Newt isn't far-right.

You know, since when is it a virtue to blindly support a party or their nominee?


We criticize the Democrats dominance of the American black vote, but some would suggest that we do and become just like those in the other party that we criticize.

WHY?

Who says we have to accept Romney?

This Republican does not have to accept ANYONE-- I won't just vote for someone just because they are a Republican!


Conservatives preach principled voting and then want to toss it out the window when it is not convenient!

There is a large conservative voting bloc in America that hears the arguments for voting Republican and laughs at their lack of consistency!

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Well, the numbers for the others choices are much lower. I personally believe Romney is the best choice of those running, even though as I have said Rick and Newt are not bad choices. There was even a time when I was supporting Rick Perry, unfortunately he was not ready to face the national exposure in a campaign. I believe Romney will prove to be much more conservative than many believe him to be.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

But JD, these guys have been vetted through the primary, no one is forcing Romney on these states that are voting him into the lead.

I would have voted for Rick Perry, had Texas primary been earlier, however he was vetted out. I hate that, but the majority rule in this country. If there was a majority that believe one of the others was the best choice, that person would be leading. Rick Santorm is closer to my values, however, he is not the leader, and the math says he can't win now, so shouldn't we begin to get behind Mitt. You must believe BO is a better choice than Romney? That is really hard to believe.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Ok JD, Romney was/is not my choice, but how possibly would one campaign against him in the fall if the choice is Romney vs Obama?

Absolutely not a question.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Newt has the heart of a warrior, though he appears very tired, I still would not be disappoint if he were to win the nomination.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I think the lightbulb may finally be going on in the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns.

Santorum is looking at polling showing him losing his home state of PA (deja vu all over again) so he is taking a four day "vacation" from the campaign. Hopefully at the end of he will gracefully (if he is capable of that) bow out before he embarreases himself completely and lose any legitimacy as a force within the Republican party.

Newt has the embarrassment of one of his organizations filing for bankruptcy today. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of your management ability even if the problems only really started to mount once he left it to run for Prez. This may explain why he cut back his campaign a few days ago if he knew this was coming and saw the handwriting on the wall.

I hope the flood of truly conservative Republican leaders telling RS and The Newt to acknowledge reality finally is working. Those of you who claim it is only moderates trying to edge conservatives out have to face the fact that conservative leaders like Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Rubio are all telling them to concede. These guys know we (Repubs) are killing our chances of winning in November with this infighting.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

It's Easter weekend. That could be his reason. He also has beat Romney in the south. I don't know why he would drop out before Texas. But, if someone talked with him, we will find out.

Newt hasn't been a part of that company since last May.

Newt is also incorporating a "Lean Six Sigma". Lean Six Sigma is a managerial concept of Lean and Six Sigma that results in the elimination of the 7 kinds of wastes (Defects, Overproduction, Transportation, Waiting, Inventory, Motion/Redundancy and Overprocessing) within goods and service at a rate of 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

I hope that the GOP doesn't disenfranchise those of us who have not cast a vote in the primaries. You can thank Rubio for getting the ball rolling in Florida to force Romney on us. Yes, I just love the GOP.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

Yes, he certainly is. Much more a warrior than I first knew. But, like CC1 said in another post, he will always be a part because of his brilliant mind.

"I pledge to you, my life, my fortune, my sacred honor." - Newt Gingrich

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

They are voting, reluctantly, for him because the media and GOP have everyone convinced he is the nominee - the inevitable. I hope he does prove to be much more conservative than many believe. I certainly believe there are people who will hold his feet to the fire. Too bad he has that perception about him.

I can't see 6 out of 10 republicans sitting out the elcetion. Maybe 2 of 10? As disappointed as some would be (including myself to a point, I prefer Gingrich or Santorum) I Romney is the nominee, they would be devestated at another 4 years of
"waint until the election is over" Obama.

You'd vote for Gingrich, but if its between Obama and Romney you'd "campaign hard" for Obama? RIDICULOUS! You have a vote and can use it any way you want, but to say you won't vote for Romney because he's not a conservative, but you will actively spend your energy, life, and God given breath (all for free) to make sure that the most radical leftist socialistic internationalist, flip flopping divisive,Islamic regime supporting (Israel hating) president in US history retains power (and gets stronger since there remains no threat of being voted out) is one of the most senseless things I've ever read.

Re: Will Santorum and Gingrich Listen?
 

I am a MO delegate for Rick Santorum, the conservatives need to have their voice heard in the GOP.... There is more to it than presidential selection, and no one should sit out in Nov.

While it can be argued RomneyCare is similar to ObamaCare, it simply cannot be argued that Mit Romney (or any R candidate) has a socialistic worldview in the manner of BHO. I would run to the polls to vote for Donald Duck against Obama.

:thumbsup