I see a repeat of 2012 coming in 2016.
Jeb the moderate could win nomination with whole bunch of conservative candidates dividing votes.
If either Ricky or Newty dropped out after alol others except Mitt were in the race, Mitt could never have won the nomination. Mitt never crossed 30% until he became inevitable.
I don't think it's that simple.
Remember when Huckabee was gaining traction and the ptb declared nutty McCain as the unstoppable frontrunner? There was a decision that it was better to lose with McCain than to win with a conservative (yes, I know Huckabee's imperfect, but he is conservative and articulate)
Remember when Quayle and SteveForbes had a lot of support and Bush 2 was sold as a true conservative, even though he'd never voted or opined about any DC issues? Oh, yeah Quayle used an alternative form of spelling potatoE; that knocked him out.
And then take the last conservative standing against Romney. That would be Santorum. He was doing quite well until he started yapping about the "need to compromise".....doesn't get it, does he?
My point is that we constitutional conservatives have our work cut out for us. This info about Jeb should disqualify him. We need an articulate constitutional conservative who has good instincts who can inspire the nation with a message of how to make the US great again. As near as I can figure out, Jeff Sessions is one of the few still standing. DeWine? Huckabee? If one of these politicians is a true constitutional conservative, having a since message will get that person the necessary support.
Cruz....too fast to beat the war drums. RandPaul....all over the place. Neither one had good instincts to speak out in the Bundy situation as it unfolded. The globalists? No. I'd rather see hillary in there and have an opposition than to have a 'pub President who's against us, marginalizing and ignoring conservative gains.