I continue to believe it is too early for either of the two main “not Romney” candidates to drop out.
However, if you're a voter in Michigan, you really need to support Santorum if you can do so without violating your principles. There's a real chance of knocking Romney out of the race with a defeat in Michigan.
If Romney is out of the race, then we can have a meaningful debate on the differences — some of them real and others not so important — between Santorum and Gingrich.
As this thread shows, Gingrich himself is deciding not to campaign in Michigan and to put his efforts elsewhere:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2849466/posts
The goal is to stop Romney. I'd be saying the same thing in reverse for a state where Gingrich is leading, or (gag me) places like Maine and Virginia where Ron Paul was or is the main anti-Romney.
If you're a Gingrich supporter and can't vote for Santorum based on your principles, I respect that, just as I understand why someone like me would have to think very hard before deciding what to do in Maine or Virginia — I don't know if I could vote for Ron Paul even if I knew he was the only chance in those two states of stopping a Romney win.
20 posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 3:39:59 PM by Darren McCarty: “He said that Chuck Yob is supporting Santorum.”
Very interesting. I moved out a Michigan a decade ago and haven't had any reason to talk to anyone at that level of establishment Republican leadership from Michigan in many years, but I'm encouraged to see Yob supporting Santorum.
I'm old enough to remember Chuck Yob driving me around in his expensive car showing off his new toy — a phone in the car that he explained helped him do business during “down time” of driving around. Seemed like a really neat idea at the time and it was the first time I (or most other people) had ever seen a mobile phone. He explained that it was sort of like the technology of CB radios but called actual phone numbers and was basically private instead of being broadcast all over CB frequencies, and that his car phone could be called by people from standard rotary-dial or the newer pushbutton telephones.
Yes, young-uns, there really was a day before cell phones!
I’m having a really hard time convincing myself to vote for Ron Paul in Virginia. I am going to go to the polls. I’m going to sign in, and get my voting card for the machine.
But I don’t know if I’m going to make a selection or not. I’m certain Paul isn’t going to get 50% in my congressional district, so it doesn’t really matter one way or the other.
I’m trying to find out if they are going to count undervotes. I’m going to push for them to release the undervote counts, and if so, I’ll probably suggest that people who don’t like either candidate to still come out and “not vote”, so we can be counted. It’s all symbolic.
If I thought Paul had a chance of getting 50%, I’m still not sure I could vote for him.