I say this with a heavy heart, but in truth, Romney may not need the Freeper vote. The reason red states are called red states is because they provide the GOP with large victory margins. Freepers represent maybe 5% of the GOP vote, if that. It would make a lot of sense for Romney to sacrifice his victory margins in the red states if it helps him snag independent votes in the purple states. For more or less the same reason, Clinton chose Gore as his VP in 1992, despite the fact that they were red states even then - he figured he could sacrifice some margins in the blue states in exchange for a chance at winning some of the purple or red states.
That's been Romney's strategy from the start. He needed to eliminate any potential Conservative rivals (like Palin) and then get just enough votes to get through the primaries and caucuses before counting on a coalition of party-first Republicans/RINOs and disaffected Rats to secure the big win in November. And then to hell with the Conservative base.
While I share some of your thoughts, I disagree. Romney is going to need every last vote he can get, and it starts with an energized base. For the sake of argument I am going to lump Freepers and the tea party into one group. If this base of voters is not energized to vote, volunteer and donate, he cannot win.
The purple states are chock full of our types. Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Virginia. All hinge on base excitement. Wisconsin, too as fully demonstrated a couple weeks ago with the recall.
We are not going to be happy with every position nor every statement, but seldom is anyone going to be 100% lockstep with any candidate. He’s showing that he is going to largely fight with our ideas. The Paul Ryan budget, a pretty strong immigration stance, and a goal to cut government. Despite all the warts, this is the first nominee since Reagan talking about cutting.