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The problem this year was that the favored candidates got the majority of questions and a guy like Hunter couldn’t even get his message out.

This isn't the first time a candidate has complained that the media shut him down just because he was polling at .5% In fact since Fox News sponsored several debates it should have been easier for conservatives to get out their message.

The conservative messages of Tancredo, Hunter, Gilmore, and Gingrich were adopted by the front runners Guiliani, Romney, and Huckabee. Looking at the front runner pasts, I concur that their 2008 conversions were hard to swallow, but it is difficult for me to say the conservative message didn't get out. With Fred Thompson( my first choice ) it seemed he was doing better in the polls before he opened his mouth and spread the conservative gospel. When it was found he was hard line pro-life, anti-illegal, pro-gun, and ashamed of the McCain free-speech ban...his appeal faded.

As a former rat and president of his union, Gov Reagan had a record of tax increases and pro-abortion legislation in CA. He did not run as a conservative but was painted as one by the media. He didn't run as a conservative because conservatism, by itself, will not win elections. A winner must appeal to moderates as well as his base. When Guilliani, Romney, Thompson and Huckabee made claim to the Reagan conservative legacy they lost their original moderate GOP support, and maybe just as important they lost credibility.

Hunter actually was someone I could trust, but he didn’t get the financial support, and didn’t have a good enough staff to do what he needed to do. And of course, that may call to question his executive skills.

I agree. A serious candidate needs to be able to raise money and volunteers on a national scale.

There isn’t any doubt in my mind that McCain will savage Conservatism from the office of the President.

I have doubts based on a lifetime of McCain's votes and actions. His move to the center began with his first run in 2000. I think it is unlikely McCain will move to the right as President, but then again, I had low expectations for Dubya in 2000 and I was pleasantly surprised that he exceeded my low expectations. I have faith in McCain's record of support for our military. McCain has a pretty good record on abortion, guns, and judges. I hope he will continue the Bush tax cuts. I expect McCain to be a better deficit hawk than Dubya. I will be satisfied with 2 steps forward and 1 step back.

That is my ringing endorsement of John McCain - the lesser of 3 evils.

Thank you again for a thoughtful response.

Let's be clear here, I'm making this observation about the debates, not Hunter. Hunter and Paul were allowed to address about two or three questions each debate, with Thompson, Guiliani, McCain and Romeny each getting six to eight questions. Questions to the front runners were on interest of the day, but with Paul and Hunter the questions were sometimes pointed as if to marginalize them. For the record, I did attribute Hunter's operation to have been woefully inadequate. That doesn't prevent me from observing the debates and calling it like I see it. IMO, the debates were more of a negative for Hunter than a positive. His opportunity to flesh out what his beliefs were, were just about non-existant. And with the questions he was asked, it probably would have been better if he simply had refused to appear. Either way, his ability to build off the debates was never viable.

Nah, Giuliani didn't adopt their message. Romney and Huckabee tried, but they couldn't pull it off. Folks saw right through them.

I don't believe you think that about Thompson. Look back on it. What was going with Thompson early on? He refused to jump the gun prior to Labor Day. For this he was trashed constantly by the media for not caring enough to get involved. He reportedly had high polling numbers, but let's get real here. You do recognize that the media loves to play up Conservative polling so that they can bring up lower numbers later to kill their chances. It's like McCain, the best friend the media every had until he got the nomination. Then it was daggers at dawn.

The media spun Thompson into the ground. Even on this forum a lot of folks were content to let the media do their thinking for them. Thompson was too lazy. Thompson did go there. Thompson didn't enter the early debates. Oh that Thompson, he's just killing Romeny's chances by stealing his votes. We let the media develop our game plan to a large extent this year. It was just sad to watch the dilusional posts about Thompson and others. Despite Romney's history, folks on this forum glommed on to him and pronounced him Mr. Conservative. Holy Cow Batman, how can you fight that. If people are going to join in mass dilusion, there isn't much you can do about it.

What you seem to be saying is that Conservatism simply doesn't sell anymore. Okay let's see if you really believe that.

1. Do you think the American public wants to cut our military by 50%?
2. Do you think the American public is comfortable with the 45 million abortions that were peformed over the last 40 years?
3. Do you think the American public doesn't care if the nation is overrun by 50 million illegal aliens?
4. Do you think the American public wants our first amendment rights to be severely limited?
5. Do you think the American public wants the second amendment repealed?
6. Do you think the American public wants the U.S. Constitution rewritten?
7. Do you think the American public wants a Communist model to replace our Republic?

1. The public supports our military.
2. By a large margin something like 65 to 70% of the public thinks there should be fewer abortions.
3. The American public has seen the ill effects of illegal alien crimmigration, and they want it stopped. Why do you think the recent shamnesty didn't pass? The public expressed it's opinion.
4. Nobody wants out first amendment right curtailed.
5. Very few people actually believe denying citizens the right to arm themselves is the right thing to do. We have a few activists who drive this efforts.
6. Most citizen are very proud of our Constitution and would rise up if it were to be messed with.
7. Most folks know better than to demand a communist takeover of this nation.

IMO, if you don't realize these things, you're kindof out of touch. The very way you frame this statement, "When it was found he was hard line pro-life, anti-illegal, pro-gun, and ashamed of the McCain free-speech ban...his appeal faded." makes me wonder where you are coming from. Do you really believe this? I don't recall seeing anyone state this with regard to Thompson. You're reading into his defeat things that are not there. I'm reading very little into this nomination process other than the fact that the process is completely broken. I believe that the RNC and the DNC have coluded to provide a system that is designed to produce leftist winners. The early primaries are run rather slopily, and by the time the majority of us are able to even express our opinions, the choices have already been made. Imagine a system that lets about two million people vote before the choices for a hundred million are very close to having been already made.

As a former rat and president of his union, Gov Reagan had a record of tax increases and pro-abortion legislation in CA. He did not run as a conservative but was painted as one by the media. He didn't run as a conservative because conservatism, by itself, will not win elections. A winner must appeal to moderates as well as his base. When Guilliani, Romney, Thompson and Huckabee made claim to the Reagan conservative legacy they lost their original moderate GOP support, and maybe just as important they lost credibility.

No offense intended here at all, but wow, this is how you saw Ronald Reagan's run for the Presidency? There's really not much to discuss if that's the way you see it. This doesn't address reality in the remotest IMO. I lived through those years and Reagan most certainly did run on a platform of Conservatism. Just dang dude, where are you getting this stuff? Seriously!

Just a little question for you. What was McCain's vote on Ginsberg?