I know a lot of people don’t want to hear this, but the conservative Republican bench was horrible this year. Every candidate had deep flaws, and the knee pad media would have destroyed them.
I’m no fan of Romney, but he was frankly the only one without insurmountable baggage. Hopefully, the conservatives can start developing a candidate that can pick up after Romney. Ryan seems like a good candidate.
What type of baggage is "insurmountable"? Having been divorced twice? Being the architect of Romneycare? Being an anti-American Marxist who is friendly with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers? The myth of Newt's insurmountable baggage was a convenient meme for the GOP to use when trashing Gingrich. A lot of baggage can be overcome if you have the support of your party. And as Obama has proven, there is literally no type of baggage that can't be overcome if you have the support of the national news media.
Look at post 121 for just a hint of the most baggage laden candidate of the primary, the failed Governor driven from office with 34% approval, who has won a single election in his 20 years of running (that with less than 50%).
Romney has only baggage, with no conservative anything in his past.