So if it it does become Newt V Santorum, I believe this is how Newt gets his mojo back. Newt clearly had the stronger speech at cpac yesterday and seemed to have more support from the crowd. Santorum, will have a hard time standing up to Newt in stature, experience and electability.

I would really like to see Newt make some public statements about electability and speak directly to his critics and to women. I think he can make himself much more popular with the religious base and with married women by having a frank discussions about his mistakes, his rebirth, and his new vision as a father and grandfather.

Rick S can easily be isolated as a little to extreme for a general election and is showing that daily with comments on contraception, women in combat etc.

Newt needs to stay positive, but should be more acknowledging of his negatives and address them head on rather than hope people just ignore them. His redemption story could be very compelling to many.

Let’s dispatch with Romney quickly and get the real 2 man race we need, Santorum V Gingrich. Though, I clearly have a preference for Newt, both men would be strong candidates to make a conservative case in the general.

Seems pretty powerful on what Newt says about the Obama/Romney differences being pretty incremental and far from stark.

Should the campaign run this widely?

If Newt can survive tomorrow, even with a less than devastating loss, I think this goes forward.  The lies from Romney are beginning to be seen through, I think at least.  I doubt they work in too many more states.    Honestly, Newt is the candidate that can speak to the people, in plain English about the differences between the Obama philosophy and the fundamental conservative philosophy.  he has the ability to change peoples minds and get them to see the light.  I do not feel Romney can do this.  His convictions are not strong enough.

Don’t get me wrong, despite my harsh language directed at his primary campaign, my support for Romney will be 100% should he win this primary and I will write equally strong diaries supporting him versus Obama, but as one who had his first introduction to politics learning under Jack Kemp during the ’88 presidential campaign, I know that Newt can take the message to the people and CHANGE MINDS better than Mitt and change the minds of voting blocks long entrenched with voting democrat.  Therefore, he has my unwavering support as the candidate with the vision to get this done.

No matter the outcome tomorrow, the lies end in Florida.

Agreed????

The Fannie freddie stuff Mitt relies on is nonsense.  The man had a right to make a living and as the Crisis was on the horizon he was urging congress to stop backing them.  Romney made  millions investing in Fannie Freddie too and further owned a company that defrauded Medicare.  The man is a serial liar and does not show signs of repenting as Newt did.  He lies about Newt being found “guilty of ethics charges” multiple times a day when he knows darn well Newt was cleared of all charges.

As for space, we should be a country focused on being first and the leader in space.  Space will likely be a critical area for national defense in the next generations and we lose sight of that at our own peril.  Mitt has NO plan at all for space – nothing, nada.  Newt has said he wants to shrink the government to meet the revenue not the grow the revenue to keep up with the government.  Given that core principal, I trust his space expenditures will be limited and valid and primarily privately funded.

This is a spiritually changed man, who for decades has been a strong conservative, of course he has occasionally had variances but those are minimal compared to Romney who was not even a republican 20 years ago when Newt was building a conservative revolution in congress.

Newt will exceed his polling in Florida and it will be a tighter race, Newt will be ahead by the time super Tuesday has passed and then be able to focus his efforts on Obama.

Current polling suggest Romney has a better chance to beat Obama but this is way to far out to be reliable.  Romeny will be trashed by Obama and does not have the conservative backbone that Newt does to fight back with any sort of believable case.  Newt on the other hand will be able to fight Obama on principle and slowly change minds through his articulate and sensible conservative views.  By late fall he will be far better positioned to win than Romney would.

This sums it up well.  Newt stands for conservative principles of smaller government, individual freedom, individual responsibility, pro life principles, Christian values and freedom (even if he is not a perfect model).  Mitt repeatedly will say anything to get elected, just look at how he distanced himself from RR in his prior elections, and how he changes his positions to suit the election he is trying to win.

Newt is principled and yes, grandiose at times, but grounded always in conservative principles.  Romney has pulled out all the stops, including blatant lies and misrepresentations to try and win Florida.

Newt needs to SLAM him tonight, much as he will SLAM Obama in debates this fall.  Show the people why we need a principled fighter not an unprincipled moderate to have any chance to beat Obama.

She also discussed Newt asking for a divorce and she guessing there was someone else which makes the whole “open marriage” claim harder to believe.

This should not hurt!

South Carolina, I think you saw the kind of visionary conservative that we need to beat both Romney and Obama this week. I urge you to be bold and vote Newt!

I still see Rick S as a solid guy and an option i could live with, but boy he sounded bitter tonight. I can’t imagine such a negative tonality could help.

I know there are Santorum fans here despite his big government leanings and I applaud him for his campaign to date.  Like Perry, I think he has a lot to gain by stepping out and joining Newt.  It would be a massive help to Newt and given their friendship, I am sure Newt would take excellent care of him.  It would also set him up for another run in 4 years should Obama win.

God Bless you Rick and all of your supporters, but now is the time to go.  The impact you could make will never be bigger or more important in this cycle.

Newt must be clear once and for all that he is a free market capitalist in every way. This is about Romney and his character and ethics. It certainly sounds like, in at least a couple of Bains many deals, that those ethics may have been lacking. If that is the case Romney owes the people a defense of his actions or an admission of poor decision making.

Conservatives like Rush need to realize that this is about one man and his ethics and mindset NOT an attack from the left as he has so often claimed.

I think he will make an outstanding president in the Reagan tradition and can easily beat Obama, but he has to beat the other republicans first.

How can that be true? Certainly Newt was at one time a polarizing figure and the face of the government shutdown, but people, that was close to 20 years ago. This is a new Newt. He is older, kinder, and gentler but just as smart and just as consistently conservative. When faced head to head with Obama he can certainly beat BO.

The polls that show Romney does better against Obama right now than Newt are entirely irrelevant. Once he is the Nominee and gets all of the press coverage and people in the middle meet the new Newt that will change quickly.

Stop the “unelectable” mantra. If you don’t like Newt don’t vote for him, but don’t compromise and vote for somebody else just because you think that are more electable.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/opinion/21brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion]

Where exactly is the conservative in this so called conservative columnist?

The Obama appointments from my (hopefully conservative) perspective have been awful. They have been extremely liberal. They have been Washington insiders (Change??). They have been Clinton people (Change?). The fact that he can applaud these says to me he is gone forever.

Unfortunately he will continue to call himself a conservative columnist/commentator and this will encourage the media and those on the left to ask all of the “true conservatives” to be more like him.

More like him? Are you kidding me? If the conservatives were more like him we would have no points of difference at all from the center left.

Good riddance David.

The question is why?

Has Bush totally lost for our party the small government position? If so that is too bad, because I don’t think he ever claimed to be a small government conservative and he most certainly did not govern like one.

Have the socially conservative positions (particularly on drugs and gambling) scared some libertarians away from the party?

Have other libertarians been scared away by things like the Patriot Act?

Regardless, of the reason we have clearly lost most of them.

So can we bring them back?

Can a Libertarian who thinks marijuana should be legalized sit comfortably in the same tent with an evangelical Christian conservative?

When Reagan was the president he managed to bring these groups together but I would argue that the split began in the ’88 primary when, Bush, Dole, Robertson, Kemp and even Ron Paul all took different factions and I don’t think we have put them all back together in a meaningful way since.

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

This is a very strange issue. It could be put to rest so easily by BO by just producing the original and the issue is over. The only reason I can think of not to produce it, is it does not exist. This, by itself, does not mean he is not qualified to be president it just means like many of us he has lost or misplaced his original birth certificate.

But either way, he needs to offer some definitive proof that he is constitutionally qualified before the Electoral College meets. Why does he need to stall and evade? Just admit the truth and prove his citizenship some other way – unless maybe, just maybe, he can’t.

I cannot fathom why the media will not report on this subject – last I heard that were dozens of lawsuits going on yet no mainstream media coverage. Go figure.

BO may rewrite the Constitution before he ever takes office. Frightening.

The democratic field is wide open but may not be for long – former Clinton hack Terry McAuliffe is talking a big game and touring the state telling everyone about all the money he has and why that makes him the best candidate to run the state. He is apparently also insinuating that if he wins the primary, some of his fortune will go to help democratic delegates in their races. The Virginian-Pilot called this a not –so- subtle quid pro quo.

The problem is, that the guy really does have the cash to back up his claim and with his name recognition and ability to spin until the cows come home this guy would be a formidable opponent for an attorney general with nowhere near the same level of name recognition.

My plea to conservatives nationwide is to start discussing the Virginia race. Talk up the importance of a republican win in the first year of the BO presidency – in a state that voted for him. This race needs publicity and Bob McDonnell needs our support both with our $ and with our voices.

Winning Virginia in 2009, builds key momentum for the midterm elections in 2010.

I know I have heard the doom and gloom about all of the related companies that rely on the automakers and this is true but they are not going anywhere. If GM ends up in bankruptcy, then they will simply restructure make better contracts and make better products to bring them through the downturn much like airlines or many other companies have done.

But what happens if even restructuring doesn’t work? Don’t you think some smart, young entrepreneur would come in – at least at some price – to buy the company’s assets and build a new, leaner, better, faster automobile company that would employ many of the same people and still buy from most of the same suppliers.

So even in the “worst case scenario” we as a country end up with a better and more competitive company in the end.

Make no mistake, there is one loser here and that is the unions. The failure of the auto companies is a major indictment of unions and their failure would be devastating for the future of unions.

Watch out for a nasty battle. The unions have tons of money, BO’s ear and will not let these union companies fail. That is a shame.

We can start (restart) a movement here folks. No matter who we are or where we live or work, there are battles of ideas to be waged. We are all on the team and we are all to be held accountable for the results in 23 months when the votes have been cast.

But to win, we need to engage. Engage at home with your kids and spouse. Engage with your neighbors. Engage with your co-workers. Engage with your Church, with your golfing (or hunting or fishing) buddies. Engage with your weekly card game. Engage strangers on airplanes and in taxis when you travel.

Engage how? Thoughtfully. Passionatley. Relenlessly. Remind folks of the things we stand for like small government, lower taxes, strong defense, God, free speech, free markets and empowering people not government. When Obama goes against these values as he will at almost every turn, speak. Be that voice in the wilderness and try and get into a few peoples heads.

If a few million of us can be passionate in the trenches, I know we can each change a few minds with our ideas over the next 23 months. Do the math folks. If just a million conservatives took up this challenge and if each of us could change the opinions of just 3 or 4 people in the next 23 months then we have a net gain that can make a huge difference in the mid-term elections.

You are all on the clock. How many minds can you change in the next 23 months? I think if we focus on the bedrock principles and keep it simple like Reagen did we change the minds of more like 10 peaople each – in fact, this might be a landslide in 2010. Let’s do this thing.