Before the primaries started, I was hoping one of our experienced Republican governors would emerge as the obvious candidate--e.g., Barbour, Daniels, Pawlenty, or Perry. I knew of these guys, mostly by reputation, as conservative, competent, and potentially electable.
Barbour and Daniels never got in. Pawlenty did, and early on, I liked what I was reading. But then in the first couple debates, he came across as snide, weak toward Romney and harsh toward Bachmann, and then he dropped out right away. In comes Perry. Again, good from what I had read--Tenth Amendment guy, "gets" federalism. But then in the debates, he came across as a dumb, slow-witted Texan, which didn't go over too well. Another disappointment. Bachmann and Cain, I never saw as electable--and they weren't. I didn't think Santorum and Gingrich were very electable, either. They did better than I expected, but still, not enough. So, given my heistancies about Romeny, I didn't really have a candidate I could get excited about in this go-round. (I was a FredHead in '07-'08.)
During the debates I cheered when any one of the candidates made a good point, especially when it was for conservative principles and policies, or when it was against Obama, not against each other. (The only candidate I got angry against was Paul, for his naive foreign policy.) I cheer for anyone on "our team" when they do well. I was reluctant to bash any of our candidates, because I know we need a united front against Obama.
“Again, good from what I had read—Tenth Amendment guy, “gets” federalism. But then in the debates, he came across as a dumb, slow-witted Texan, which didn’t go over too well.”
Yep. Unfortunate. He was coming back around but too late. He rushed into back surgery so he could take part in the primaries. Bad choice. He was in a lot of pain and taking pain killer during te campaign. He was slow. He was the best candidate in the race and Romney’s, Cain’s, and Bachmann’s prime target. Perry never even knew he had been insulted until he read it in the paper the next day because of the pain killer. Good man though.
I like the way you put things. My conclusions are much like yours.