No they didn't. They merely settled for Romney after the GOP establishment elite spent months force-feeding him down the throats of casual Republican voters and leaners, a task that was made easy for them thanks to the lazy rat newsrooms who remembered Romney from last time and followed went their meme.
You really think that all along the "conservatives" wanted the liberal Massachusetts governor and father of the original version of commie-care as the standard bearer for the GOP? Get a grip.
Read what I said.
Conservatives REFUSED to cooperate.
Romney was the fault of conservatives for our refusal to settle on, and back, ONE candidate in the primary.