[Jim Scott]

It's been said many times but still bears repeating: the Tea Party never put forth a viable candidate so we have to choose from what's out there, and there isn't all that much. They're all flawed. Romney is a mega-RINO, Newt Gingrich is wildly unpredictable and, in my opinion, not a core conservative by any means, Rick Santorum is bland and ineffectual, Michele Bachmann comes across as shrill and unfocused, Ron Paul is an aging libertarian with insane concepts of foreign policy, Rick Perry is appealing but inarticulate, too much like George W. Bush in that regard. I supported Herman Cain but he was taken out by dirty politics (false accusations) that could have just as easily been engineered by the Republican establishment as the Obama campaign or the DNC.

My number one choice for the 2012 Republican presidential nominee was Sarah Palin but she declined to run, much to my disappointment. Unless she changes her mind about running, which is highly unlikely, conservatives just don't have much to choose from. So, we take what we can can get. I'm very suspicious of Newt Gingrich and have always suspected that he had a 'character issue'. However, time is running out and we have to choose a candidate. I won't touch Romney unless he ends up the Republican nominee. Then, I'll have no choice but to vote for him, holding my nose all the while - again. I may not even bother to vote in my state's Republican primary because it's in February and by then, the GOP candidate is pretty much known by virtue of the results in the preceding primaries. However, unless he crashes and burns - which is entirely possible - if I vote in the Republican primary, I'll likely vote for Newt, with grave reservations surmounted only by the sure knowledge that another four yers of Obama, unfettered by the need to secure re-election, will be an unmitigated disaster for America and result in negative changes that may never be undone. On that negative basis, even (gulp) Romney would be better for the country. For that matter, so would Rick Perry. We'll soon find out.

[Beagle8U]

“Rick Perry is appealing but inarticulate, too much like George W. Bush in that regard.”

GW won twice, and Perry is well to the right of GW. Rick Perry will get my vote in the primary.

I would vote for Noot in the general, but if worthless evil bastard Romney gets the nomination, I’ll leave the POTUS slot on the ballot blank.

The rest of the field are just a sideshow of also-rans at this point.