If both Newt and Santorum stay in, Romney will win. This is unavoidable. I think both have their pros and cons. If their commitment to conservatism is greater than their egos, perhaps they could settle who will drop out and endorse with rock paper scissors? Haha
All GOP presidential candidates have their pros and cons, whether it's a legendary conservative like Ronald Reagan or an uber-RINO like Nelson Rockefeller. IMO, with Cain and Bachmann gone, Santorum is the last decent conservative standing. Newt's has far more negatives than Rick Santorum.
Santorum con's
- Endorsed Arlen Specter after being heavily pressured to do so by Karl Rove & GWB
- Defeated for re-election and lost home state by a 20-point margin in a bad year for the GOP.
Newt's con's
- Happily endorsed the even more liberal Dede Scozzafava as a private citizen
- Happily endorsed establishment Republican Sen. Robert Bennett over tea party challenger (and now Senator) Mike Lee
- Aggressively supported and campaigned for liberal Congressman Wayne Gilchrist (R-MD) when he faced a conservative challenge from now-Congressman Andy Harris.
- Aggressively supported and campaigned for liberal Congressman Joe Schwarz (R-MI) when he was challenged by later Congressman Tim Walberg.
- Stepped down as Speaker in disgrace when GOP lost 5 seats on his watch
- Did "Global warming awareness" ad with Nancy Pelosi
- Had Global warming "debate" with John Kerry where he spent most of the "debate" agreeing with Kerry's points that human activity is what causes global warming and it's a drastic problem the government must "address immediately"
- Embarked on bi-partisan "educational reform" tour with Al Sharpton - "Reluntantly" supported the Wall Street bailouts (Santorum opposed TARP)
- Advocated for an individual health care mandate
- Called Paul Ryan's plan "Right-wing social engineering"
- Caved to Clinton after the government shutdown was blamed on Republicans
- Got slapped down by Clinton repeatedly during his Speakership and let Clinton take credit for the GOP's accomplishments.
- Thrice married, cheated on both his first two wives that latter became his new wife.
- Was boinking current wife when she was a staffer of his during the Clinton impeachment (thankfully, the media never found that out in 1998 or they would have had a field day with "Republican hypocrisy")
- Unfavorable ratings are in the toilet, public can't stand him
And we're supposed to ignore all that because Newt was a great leader for the conservative cause during the "Contract for America" days 18 years ago, and turns in solid debate performances now?
No, thanks. I'm not sipping that kool-aid. Between Newt and Rick Santorum, I know which one I'd rather have as the nominee and it's not the "gentleman from Georgia" who now claims to be a Catholic from Virginia.
It won’t take Newt or Santorum dropping out for Romney to win. He has the momentum now, regardless.
I think if/when Newt drops out, his support will divide between Romney and Santorum. To the extent the support for Gingrich was based on him being Not Romney, it will go to Santorum.
The race will become a two-man race here shortly, whether or not anyone drops out first.
Perry needs to drop out surely he can see the writing on the wall.
Newt and Rick need to talk to each other and say one will drop out and become the VP.
If we stay this course then the liberal snake will win the nomination and that means we will stay on a left wing course socially for sure and fiscally a little better maybe than bozo.
Either way we lose and not much will change .