I have to second your opinion. It seems the other three - Rudy, Romney, and McCainiac - were all picked for us by the elite/media. I think guys like Fred and Duncan Hunter scare the elite/media because - more or less- they are real and inspire the grassroots to come out for them.
I’ve been a staunch and active conservative since my now departed father gave me a copy of Atlas Shrugged for my 22nd birthday in 1976. I was raised in Louisiana but lived for extended periods of time in Colorado, Virginia and Florida over the years and participated in retail, grassroots campaigning for state and national elections in all. My political radar is pretty good and I knew that my queeziness over having to pick the least of three evils wasn’t something that was restricted to me and me alone.
The polls are now bearing that out as those conservatives who’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting, now given a REAL choice, begin to come home.