Santorum and Gingrich Scramble for the Conservative Vote

nytimes.com ^ | January 15, 2012, 12:20 pm | MICHAEL D. SHEAR

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

WASHINGTON — Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich both pleaded with conservatives on Sunday to unite behind their candidacies in a last-ditch effort to stop Mitt Romney’s march to the Republican presidential nomination.

Mr. Santorum said the Republican contest needed to quickly narrow to a two-person race between Mr. Romney and someone else, but he declined to explicitly call on the other candidates to drop out.

“I’m not going to tell anybody to get in or out of a race; I think that’s their decision to make,” Mr. Santorum said on Fox News Sunday. But he added, “We need to get this eventually down to a conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.”

Mr. Santorum said the vote of support for his candidacy by Christian conservative leaders on Saturday in Texas should persuade Republicans in South Carolina that he deserves to be that alternative.

[BenKenobi]

Santorum polls better vs Obama than Newt, btw.

[not2worry]

Newt's supporters may rally around Santorum if Santorum wins SC, but Newt will feel he is Profoundly, Deeply, and Frankly the better of the two conservatives. Fundamentally he will never support another candidate other than himself.

Newt will take his ego, his intelligence, his narcissism and his rhetoric all the way to Tampa.

The man is all about Newt.

[mylife]

Santorum sucks, he couldn’t even get re elected in his home state.. He got routed.

Perry beat Kay Baily and Deb Medina and got kudos from Kinky Friedman.

None of it means ****, but Santorum is not going to be the candidate.

[Carry_Okie]

You are taking extreme liberties here with the truth.

Here is a balanced (although shallow) discussion of the former. Use of eminent domain for rights of way is, in my opinion, illegitimate and counterproductive. It destroys any potential speculative market in consolidating real estate options into rights of way, thus depriving property OWNERS from enjoying that return on their investment. Effectively, the very existence of eminent domain takings for such uses is an uncompensated taking of speculative value for public benefit. That is socialism lady. If it was truly necessary, then James J. Hill could never have put together the Great Northern Railway.

As to the latter, this is all I need.

Prove your baseless, shallow, and unsupported assertion or retract the charge.

[BenKenobi]

Last I checked, Newt wasn’t even eligible in his homestate. ;)

[Carry_Okie]

The sad truth is that you are both correct.

Which is what I was saying.

[mylife]

Just goes to show that our political process is a farce.

[John D]

If Santorum has a close win or comes in second to Mendacity Mitt I do hope the others will do their patriotic duty to defend the United States by stepping aside and endorsing Santorum.

Will you say the same if Newt finishes a strong second? If all the moderate fiscal conservatives got out Newt could win. Santorum may be more socially conservative, but Newt is much more fiscally and national security wise conservative.
I am more concerned with security and fiscal issues than social issues.

[mylife]

Perry sued VA and rightfully so.

[Happy Rain]

“For some reason conservatives cannot resonate with voters”

The Tea Party proved that assumption wrong in 2010 but if you are talking only about presidential politics it is hard to tell if that is currently true since we haven't had a real conservative win the GOP nomination since Ronald Reagan.

Now HE certainly resonated with the voters.

[EGPWS]

Santorum is no conservative. Just examine his voting record.

Both Gingrich and Santorum are fine Conservatives and I would be happy with either of them however Gingrich presently has a better chance of knocking out the liberal 0bama Junior Romney.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

YOU SAID: "Worse, Romney's team, if they get the White House, will work to exclude anyone who worked against Romney (IE: Any conservative) from any support from the national party. Defunding of campaigns, support of 'moderate' candidates in close races, etc. "

Response: This may be true. I can certainly see Romney and his crowd eliminating conservatives. If one looks at what Romney DOES ignoring what he says, he is very liberal.

[mylife]

There is one guy running that wants to knock off that socialist **** and allow “Right to work”

There is on guy that wants to reign in the FED and the EPA.

[Christie at the beach]

Rick Perry should endorse Newt and go back to Texas or he will help push Mitt over the top. He has already said that Newt was a brillant person. Time to give it up, Rick, your stances crushed you in the early debates which will not carry you in the general. Just keep dividing the votes which explains Romney and Rove’s smiles. Gosh, these egos-from the candidates to the newspaper people, to the insiders, to the church groups. Get someone in there to change the system before it’s too late. We need a person who knows what it takes to make changes and who will investigate the treasury.

[John D]

It will be down to one anti-Romney after FL, but I don’t think Rick will care for the results.

One anti-Romney AND THE SURRENDR MONKEY. As long as Soros and his minions keep pumping money into his campaign Cut and Run will stay in.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

Let me fix that for you.

If Santorum and Newt are out, you have Romney and Obama

It’s *THAT* simple.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

The 2010 Tea Party victory was a reaction against “The Divine One” a revulsion if you please. It may not have been due to an acceptance of “the message.”

[mylife]

People just dont get it.

[mylife]

Bah!
What stances killed him?

[Psalm 144]

LOL!