Who would or could have been the perfect candidate in your opinion? Why?
Unsupported assertion. I do not (nor ever have) sought "perfection" in any political candidate.
What I do insist upon -- and this is a simple enough baseline to meet -- is that said candidate be both fiscally and socially conservative (see sig line, below). There are at present, to that end, approximately 230+ Republicans in the House; 45 or so in the Senate; and somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30 sitting governors.
The pertinent question, here, is: why, from that available pool, does the GOP-e routinely (and suicidally) persist in cuddling and cossetting the absolute LEAST conservative potential candidates possible...?
Any other formulation is, ultimately, mere arm-waving and mugging in the service of (failed) distraction.