I'm of the opinion that odds favor a Romney nomination. I do agree that any “moderate” nominated by the Republican Party will suffer the same result they always do, a loss.
I'm also still anticipating should Romney be the nominee, there will be a major Third Party candidate, which I concede will also give Obama a second term.
However, while the true political powers in our Country are quite capable of strongly influencing Presidential elections, they have less influence on Senate races, and very little direct influence on Congressional races. That would seem to be the path of least resistance for a Conservative renaissance, the Congress.
Presidential candidates usually have coat tails. If there were a charismatic Conservative Tea Party member to run as a Third Party candidate, it's possible that we could then gain seats in the House and perhaps the Senate. While this wouldn't give us an ideological leadership change at the top, it could create complete gridlock. Added to that, the House does control the purse strings of our Government. While legislative monsters such as Obamacare and Dodd/Frank would not be rescinded, a true Conservative Congress could refuse to fund these beasts.
Maybe we're in a place in history where our change cannot come from the top down, rather from the bottom up.
Well stated...and you may be right...”The long term answer might be a Third Party ticket”
This should be a very interesting time.
Currently, we have one and a half parties: the progressive/communist demonrat party and the kinder, gentler "demonrat-lite" GOP.
The only real difference between the two is not the destination, as they both are headed off of the same cliff, but rather the speed.
The demonrats are hell bent for flying off the edge while GOP is going to sweet talk you into it and take you there slower so you don't fight it so much...you might even like it.
My hope was/is that the Tea Party is able to reform the Republican party and make it be the party of small government and sound fiscal policy, then use the party's political power to hit the Constitutional reset button and reboot the original Constitutional Republic operating system.
That's not going to happen with Romney, just like it wasn't going to happen with McCain or either Bush or with Dole or any other establishment GOP candidate, including Perry.