Well, I know one thing that was going on in Iowa. I watched a Fox New affiliate clip (I saw it on another program the morning before the caucus, but am not sure on which it was)that said that the establishment was going to have the Caucus leaders try and sway the caucus goers away from Ron Paul and toward Romney and Santorum.
Now I don’t know if that is truly the case (—that it happened—I know for sure it was said, as I watched the interview), but it can explain part of the bump for both Santorum and the lesser turnout for Ron Paul. Then again, there was talk of having Demcrat crossover to vote for Ron Paul, so it may have been a wash. Either way, Santorum will not have much support outside of Iowa. The fact is that people don’t like what he’s saying. I am only marginally politically active on FR, but very politically active in real life (or in person, however you say), and have daily conversations with business and personal contacts with people about the election. Not a single person has liked Santorum that I have spoken to, Conservative, Liberal, or Independent.
The Republican party is fading as it should be. We were warned against a two party system, and now all we have is the one party with two heads. The Tea party MUST stand up for Constitutional, Limited Government, not the lesser of two evils. That will always get you evil, and it always gets worse. When we have citizen detention bills passed with near unanimous support, it should be a clue that the politicians don’t have our best interest in mind, no matter the letter behind their name. There’s not a single “Constitutional Conservative” Republican left in the race. Herman Cain was close, Sarah Palin didn’t run, and Ron Paul is a Libertarian (just below an anarchist).
If I remember correctly. Jim Robinson said on a thread last week, that if Romney gets the Republican nomination, that he’ll work to form a third party, because FR, after all,is going to remain Anti-Romney. That may be the very best thing that has every happened to politics in America. People need to finally stand up and say “NO!” to big government politicians. It started 2 years ago with the Tea Party. The enemy (evil/liberalism) NEVER relents. If you slide with it, you’ll always slide. The Founding Fathers are rolling over the Patriot Act, written by none other than Joe Biden, and there was outrage but the frog’s pot was allowed to steep slowly. Now we have FEMA campes (read an article last year about the funding for their expansion, but not going to go into it at the moment/on this thread), and civilian detainment.
The answer isn’t more government to force you to do something. The answer is little government, and people actually facing the natural consequences to their actions. Starting with politicians.
It is pretty evident that voters can't let go of their candidate and get behind one not-Romney candidate. By time the not-Romney candidates are reduced by the primary process, it may be too late for ANY not-Romney candidate.
I look for Trump to enter the race if he thinks Romney is going to get it.