"Also, a lot of people are using a candidate's conservative credentials as a basis for their support."
You have got to be kidding! That's the most ridiculous post on this thread so far. As far as I'm concerned you just revealed yourself for what you are...a liberal troll!
Many candidates talk about being conservative, but it's what you do that will distinguish you as a conservative.
As mayor, Rudy Giuliani applied conservative principles to accomplish conservative goals, such as:
Privatizing city-owned apartments, cutting taxes 23 times and returning billions to the taxpayers of New York (look at the comptroller's budget report for fiscal year 1999), increasing and reorganizing the police department which successfully reduced overall crime by 53 per cent and the murder rate by 67 per cent, improving quality of life issues through aggressive policing, removing over 600,000 people from welfare roles through tough work requirement.
You were saying?