I see this scenario in a brokered convention. Romney is exposed for being the weak candidate he is. Despite massive advantages in money, he can barely win states like MI and OH. Therefore, the party dumps him because they know in the General election he’d be toast.
But there will be a ton of animosity towards Rick/Newt from a sizable percentage of delegates. This opens the door for another candidate. Who does the White House seem to fear the most? That seems to be Sarah Palin imo. Can she unite value conservatives and fiscal conservatives? Yah, she can.
I don’t buy the line about her negatives being too high. BHO is obsessed with her. CW on her is wrong. She is a charismatic candidate that would pump out voter turnout on the right even more than current crop. And many woman who voted for Obama in 2008 will have to ask themselves, do they want to make history again, and vote for the first woman president? I think many will and the democrats will lose their traditional edge with women voters. Then you will see a landslide of epic proportions. And that is the way it SHOULD be, with an incumbent this terrible.
Oh one more reason for nominating Sarah. She is already a known figure. She won’t need to spend millions on name recognition. She also has the experience from 2008. She will come out of the gate campaigning hard on day one. I don’t think any other dark horse candidate would be able to start so fast and so strong.
I love your scenario and I think it is more than possible. Keep praying.
But I don't see her getting the nomination, at least not this year. Too many see her as running away from the fight when the going got tough. I know she had her reasons and many of those reasons make sense. But she declined to get in when the door of opportunity was wide open and they are unlikely to ask her back now.
All three men in the fight now have at least taken the battle scars and bruises to indicate how they will stand up to the big fight when Obamao unleashes his billion dollar plus campaign. Sarah has not.
The GOP establishment, even were we capable of putting up the money and votes to win without them, are not going to go gentle into that good night. If they reach into the bench to pull out a dark horse, it isn't going to be Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin. It will most probably will be somebody bland and uncontroversial who can give them a reasonable assurance of losing because they need BO in the white house for another four years to make another member of the Bush dynasty look attractive.
If Mitt Romney won't do that job, then they will find somebody who will.
That's my opinion. And there are only two ways to counter it. The first is the best and its a long shot: Send Rick Santorum to the convention with 1144 delegates. An uphill climb, for sure, but not impossible. If that doesn't work, the second is to elect their RINO whether they really want him or not. If they do a lousy job, Jeb Bush isn't going to win in 2016 anyway and he'll be too old in 2020. If they surprise us and do a great job, then Jeb Bush still ain't going to win in 2016.