Posted on 01/15/2012 9:15:17 PM PST by Antoninus
Fellow Conservative,
Americans have been down this road before.
At various times both parties nominated boring candidates because they were considered "electable". In every one of those cases, they weren't electable at all. Now Republicans are again thinking about nominating another bland and boring candidate for President Mitt Romney.
If we don't love our candidate, how can we expect Democrats and Independents to?
We must stop him in South Carolina with a BOLD conservative who can contrast himself starkly with President Obama and inspire Americans to vote for him.
In the South Carolina polls, I am running just behind Romney and am poised to defeat him. I need your support to close the deal.
Since 1980, every Republican nominee has won South Carolina.
Bursting onto the scene in Iowa, conservatives reacted to my emergence as the conservative challenger to Mitt Romney by pouring in over $3 million to my campaign. Now, South Carolina polls have me within striking distance of Mitt Romney- who has committed millions in ads to the state already.
I urgently need your support so we can match Mitt Romneys spending dollar for dollar in South Carolina. Your donation of $30, $50 or $75 is the difference between a South Carolina victory and 4 more years of President Obama. The days are numbered to make an impact.
Support Rick to help close the deal.
My record as a national conservative leader:
Co-wrote the Contract with America
Led the fight to reform welfare
Sponsored the bill banning partial birth abortion
Authored legislation imposing strong sanctions against Iran
As President, I will repeal Obamacare, re-write the tax code, and end Barack Obamas unprecedented interference in our economy. And I will pursue a bold economic plan that the Wall Street Journal calls bolder than Mr. Romneys.
Are you ready to join me?
Republicans cant afford a nominee who is unable to withstand the blistering attacks of Barack Obamas billion dollar campaign or even worse resemble Obama so much that he can't barely be distinguished from him.
With a clear record of results, I give the GOP the best chance to defeat Obama and put a conservative in the White House.
Be a part of this historic campaign by donating just $35. I will make your voice heard in Washington!
Sincerely,
Rick Santorum
P.S. If you've been holding out and waiting to make up your mind than now is the time. We must stop Romney in South Carolina. We must unite and guarantee a conservative standard bearer in 2012. We are poised for victory in South Carolina. Help us today to continue to build momentum with the most generous donation you can afford. If you cannot afford to give or have done so already, will you consider sharing this email with your family and friends?
Go Rick!
Santorum’s right about Romney being bland and boring, but he’s not real exciting himself.
You mean well. I don’t see it happening though. Peace. :)
Just how exciting does a president or even a candidate need to be?
Rick Santorum should stand up and note that Mitt Romney has said in the past that he believed in a “woman’s right to choose” and now says he has “always been Pro-Life.”
Will Santorum get some clarity on that issue from Romney for all of his ‘pro-family’ supporters out there???????
Or he is just in the race to tie up votes so Romney can win?
Rick Santorum was heavily supported by the National Right To Life Committee as a senator.
NRL’s longtime general counsel, James Bopp Jr., now works as a family issues advisor for Mitt Romney, insisting that Romney is indeed Pro-Life.
I sincerely think Santorum was inserted in this race to help divide conservative votes in general and religious conservative anti-Mormon votes in particular so Romney could win the nomination in early primaries-caucuses.
GOP Candidates Scramble to Overcome Evangelical Support for Santorum
Sunday, 15 Jan 2012 12:22 PM
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/AMERICAME-ASBNX-ATX-AUBN/2012/01/15/id/424241
Rick Santorum won the support of a group of U.S. family and religious leaders who called for social conservatives to coalesce behind one Republican presidential candidate as an alternative to Mitt Romney.
The endorsement came on the eve of the final Sunday worship services before the Jan. 21 primary in South Carolina, where 60 percent of 2008 Republican primary voters said in exit polls that they consider themselves born again or evangelical Christians.
Theyve looked at not just what weve been able to accomplish during this primary season so far, but theyve looked at the track record of someone thats been a strong, consistent voice across the board on all the conservative issues, Santorum said yesterday while campaigning in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
On Fox News Sunday, Santorum called the endorsement a very big deal that will lead to grassroots campaigning in South Carolina from individuals who will help our cause.
Santorum received 85 of 114 votes on the third ballot at a gathering of religious leaders on a ranch near Bleiblerville, Texas, defeating former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told reporters on a conference call yesterday.
Not the Alternative
Santorum is not the obvious alternative to Romney, Gingrich said on NBCs Meet the Press today, adding that polls have shown he is the strongest rival to Romney in South Carolina. Gingrich said that, if he loses in South Carolina, he would reassess his candidacy.
The endorsement could give a boost to Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. Evangelical voters helped propel former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee into second place in South Carolina four years ago, and did so for Santorum this year in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, where he finished eight votes behind front-runner Romney.
Santorum called himself the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, although he said he wouldnt ask others to drop out of the race to help focus voters most concerned about abortion and other life issues.
The voting in Texas was winnowed to Santorum and Gingrich after the first two ballots, Perkins said. Officials for each contender for the nomination, with the exception of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., spoke in support of his own candidacy.
Evangelical Groups
Organizers included Gary Bauer, president of American Values in Washington, and Donald Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association of Tupelo, Mississippi, Perkins said. Also attending was Richard Land, president of the Nashville, Tennessee-based Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Perkins declined to name others present at the two-day event on a ranch owned by H. Paul Pressler, a Houston attorney and former judge. Perkins described the group as conservative leaders, businessmen and political activists.
No coordinated effort to support Santorum is expected, Perkins said, though the groups represented may step up fundraising and direct-mail programs to help him.
Reliable Supporter
Perkins described Santorum as reliable and said that stumbles by Texas Governor Rick Perry were too great to overcome for him in a general election.
It is not news that there is not strong support among conservatives across the country for Mitt Romney, Perkins said. A true conservative has the best chance of winning the general election against Barack Obama.
Perry said on CNNs State of the Union that voters will decide who wins in South Carolina.
Ive been in this business long enough to understand that youre not going to get everyone to love you, he said. Its not organizations that elect; its the people and were going directly to the people.
Asked whether he would continue on to Florida even if he placed last in South Carolina, Perry said, Thats our intention.
On This Week, Perry said he will make his decision on whether to remain in the race after the South Carolina primary.
Mormon Faith
Romneys Mormon faith wasnt discussed by the evangelical group, which included members of several Christian denominations, Perkins said.
Conservative evangelical leaders spoke very clearly today that Mitt Romney will not be the nominee, R.C. Hammond, a Gingrich spokesman, said in a statement after the endorsement. It is encouraging for the Republican Party to have two choices in Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.
Gingrich spoke yesterday at a church dominated by blacks in Columbia, South Carolina, where he defended his record in front of about 50 people, including some who later said they have no intention of voting for any of the Republicans in the race.
After the meeting, Gingrich walked through a chicken dinner in the church basement shaking hands. He said the event was worthwhile and that other Republicans should reach out beyond their core constituencies. As Americans, we need to talk to each other, he said.
Ron Paul Absent
Absent from the South Carolina conversation yesterday was U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who has made just one campaign appearance in the state since his second-place showing in the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 10.
Campaigning yesterday in Sumter, South Carolina, Romney didnt address the Santorum endorsement. He also ignored shouted questions from a reporter as he signed autographs.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, who supports Romney, on CNNs State of the Union shrugged off the endorsement of Santorum by the group of family and religious leaders. He said the Republican Party needs to be concerned with not putting too much focus on the most conservative elements of its membership.
Jobs and the economy are the transcendent issues of this campaign, said McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008. He said the economy is a much higher priority for the voters of South Carolina and on that score every poll shows Mitt Romney is most electable.
Romney and Gingrich are looking beyond South Carolinas primary and have spent time this week in Florida, which holds its primary Jan. 31. Wins by Romney in South Carolina and Florida, after his victories in this months opening contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, would put him on a path to quickly wrap up the Republican nomination.
Worse Economy
The South Carolina contest will play out in an economic environment thats worse than the national average. The states unemployment rate was 9.9 percent in November, the most recent month available, compared with Decembers national rate of 8.5 percent. Thats high enough to put South Carolina in the top 10 states for the most unemployment in November.
On the final weekend before the primary, advertising also grew more frequent across the state.
A political action committee backing Perry began airing an ad that attacks Gingrich on ethics and accuses Santorum of voting for pay raises and locally targeted federal spending projects known as earmarks.
Winning Our Future, a committee backing Gingrich, is airing two new ads in South Carolina. One links Romney to Obamas 2010 health-care overhaul and says Romney is not conservative and not electable.
The Red White and Blue Fund, a group supporting Santorums campaign, began airing a commercial that promotes his opposition to abortion and radical Islam.
Huntsman received the endorsement today of The State newspaper in South Carolinas capital of Columbia. Huntsman is a true conservative, with a record and platform of bold economic reform straight out of the free-market bible, the newspaper said.
You took the almost exact wording right our of my brain!
Santorum has stronger conservative credentials, but outside places like FR, how much is that going to help him, especially in the absence of a really dynamic charismatic personality?
Should make for an interesting debate tomorrow with Santorum fired up to eliminate Mittens. I hope Newt and Santorum just destroy him.
This one time, you are “sincerely” wrong, terribly wrong. Think it through. Remember the timeline of Presidential declarations, and you’ll realize that what you are suspecting happened is impossible.
.
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Ah, the precious, sacred “voter”. The longer you follow politics, the more you must subscribe to the “masses are asses” theory.
Santorum IS solid, passionate and relentless, however. And believe me, he CAN deliver a speech very well. Not Palinesque well, but very well indeed. Bob
I agree, but I find it positively irrational that a plurality of REPUBLICANS would support a phony liberal as the standard bearer of the party. Other than a belief, reinforced by elitists, that “he can win”, what possible reason could anyone have for supporting him? He “understands business better that Obama”, perhaps? A soon to be arrested kid at a lemonade stand has that going for him as well. Bob
He forgot to mention Dole.
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