Don’t think it’s fair to blame Palin supporters. Did her not running hurt Rick Perry from opening up a huge lead over Romney and then insulting the base over immigration and then falling apart worse than that skier in the wide world of sports video during that debate? Did she have anything to do with that?
Anything to do with Cain then opening a lead over Romney and ending up exposed as a possible fraud with who knows how many skeletons in the closet?
Anything to do with Newt then opening up a big lead over Romney and imploding and then reopening a big lead over Romney and falling apart again? She have anything to do with Newt choking in the 2 FL debates when he had the chance to close the deal and finish Romney?
Anything to do with Santorum getting his moment and his big lead over Romney and then talking about all these social issues that no one cares about and saying how JFK made him want to throw up and all this other stuff?
Face it. A bunch of guys all had their chances. They all had their moment in the sun and their leads over Romney and they all wilted. None of that was her fault. She announced in early October. That was plenty of time for her supporters to come to terms and find someone else.
As for your 2nd point about not following the 2010 formula I agree with you. I’d just add that the 2010 formula isn’t as easy when unemployment is at 8.3% and dropping instead of being at 9.8% and climbing. Bit of a difference there. There’ve been 3M+ new jobs since the 2010 election. That makes a difference and makes it harder to run against the eocnomy.
It hurt Bachmann. Only because I recall Palin supporters attacking the field before Palin said she wasn’t running. ZMany people aimed their fire at Bachmann when she won the Iowa Straw Poll. I know that then Rick Perry people attacked Bachmann instead of Romney because she posed a threat. She was such a threat that Santorum’s backers (some people who endorsed him) in December wanted her out of the race when she was Polling higher than Santorum. They manged to poison the waters all these people and turned people against Bachmann. SO she had no chance. I went to Santorum eventually because there was nobody else left.
It hurt Bachmann. Only because I recall Palin supporters attacking the field before Palin said she wasn’t running. Many people aimed their fire at Bachmann when she won the Iowa Straw Poll. I know that then Rick Perry people attacked Bachmann instead of Romney because she posed a threat. She was such a threat that Santorum’s backers (some people who endorsed him) in December wanted her out of the race when she was Polling higher than Santorum. They manged to poison the waters all these people and turned people against Bachmann. SO she had no chance. I went to Santorum eventually because there was nobody else left.
Actually, it did. By delaying so many in the review of the declared candidates, her supporters then had precious little time to assess them once she finally bowed out.
Initially, they didn’t review Perry, so it was just a bunch of uninformed fools playing ‘follow-the-leader’ when he was the frontrunner. When he stumbled, they latched onto the next frontrunner, again... without review. And so on and so forth.
As for Newt, Santorum was pressured to drop out so that the race could gel between two candidates, the Romney... and the not Romney. He refused, for he believed in his supporters. Supporters, I might add, who were looking for a Pope to lead us instead of a President. And that drove many away.
Had he been focusing on the TEA party platform that won us such a victory in 2010, he’d have easily attracted much more support. But he didn’t, nor do his die-hard supporters even much like that platform. Why, that’d leave us without the gentle, corrective hand of government to reward us when we behave like good little Christian boys and girls... and punish us when we don’t.
Additionally, it really didn’t help that when he *FINALLY* realized that he ought to make some mention of the TEA party platform, he just cribbed Newt’s own positions that had been released the previous month... and made a quick hash of it. Just long enough to get the words out of his mouth before focusing on his true loves.
(The sad thing is that won’t even register as wrong in their eyes. It’ll just be viewed as the posting of some EEEVIL G-d-hating Communist swine that’s out to destroy everything good and holy. BURN THE WITCH!!!)