We have FINALLY gotten into 2012 and are right at the beginning of the primary season with the Iowa Caucuses behind us, the New Hampshire primary yielded little surprises and the South Carolina Primary lurks in the shadows of the very near future.  The field of candidates have predictably dwindled and will continue skinnying down until we are left with our nominee to run against Obama.  Tim Pawlenty was the first casualty of Iowa after the Ames Straw Poll, followed by Herman Cain who withdrew amidst false charges of sexual misconduct, Gary Johnson left the Republican race to tilt at a Libertarian windmill, and Michele Bachmann quit when she drew less than exciting numbers in the Iowa Caucuses.  I say Rick Perry will be the next victim after the South Carolina primary, followed by Jon Huntsman after Florida, leaving us with Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, most of which will remain until the bitter end.  So where does that leave our party as the whole Presidential sweepstakes roars into the Palmetto state? 

Mitt Romney has been the steady candidate throughout this topsy-turvy contest that would make Captain Ahab seasick with all its' ups and downs.  He's consistently been polling around the 25-35% mark and is at times a very strong frontrunner and at other times shows the strength of a wallflower at the prom.  Although I would certainly support his candidacy should he get the nomination, I feel that his nomination for our party is a mistake.  Governor Romney is a throwback to some of our failed candidates who got the nomination either because they were a 'good soldier' who had run for the nomination before and lost (Bob Dole, John McCain, George H.W. Bush) or they would be able to 'bring the independents to the party'.  (Dole, McCain and Bush the Elder still fit the mold but you can now add Gerald Ford into it the cast.)  Governor Romney falls into both catagories as well.  As Yogi Berra would say, "It's like deja vu all over again."

My opinion is that the strongest candidate that the Republican Party could field would be the most Conservative one; the one who appeals to the real base of the party and not the fringe as Ron Paul does.  This candidate would be one who would be more in the image of Republicans who actually won the White House in recent years:  Bush the Younger and Ronald Reagan, both of whom if you recall your history, were called too right wing and too volatile and that they could in no way capture those elusive independents that seem to always be out there.  Let me tell you a little secret:  Those elusive independents are part of the massive number of unemployed workers who are fed up with President Obama just as much as the solid base of the Republican Party.    Playtime is over now that Governor Romney has won both Iowa and New Hampshire.  The real race begins on January 21st when our neighbors in South Carolina pick a Conservative choice amidst the chaff. 

In my past columns I have made it very clear that I have been hoping that choice would be first Herman Cain and now former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and I still feel that way, but I will say that our party needs to get behind one Conservative and ride him all the way to The White House while leaving the others that have little chance behind.  I'm certainly not for calling names and labeling the other candidates as this always leaves a bitter taste in a failed candidates' supporters mouth, however the Conservatively-challenged candidates need to move on and hope that they will at least garner a Vice-Presidential nod as "Second Banana" on the future ticket as Bush the Elder did in 1980. 

For the record there is only one RINO (Republican In Name Only) in the Presidential race as Texas Congressman Ron Paul has certainly proved himself to be a Libertarian or Constitution Party member more so than as a member of the GOP.  Further, Congressman Paul and a great many of his supporters are completely bastardizing the Republican Party as they have absolutely no plans to support anyone with the exception of the good doctor, yet want to try and infiltrate the rank and file by insisting that he and they are the only true Conservatives out there and that the party has left them.  Notice I said a good many...Not all.  There are many of Congressman Paul's supporters that truly think he's a Conservative alternative to the rest of the field.  I hope they wake up before it's too late.  I've heard more than once that we need to have a detente' or a peaceful coexistence with Paul and his supporters in fear that he may run as a 3rd party candidate or that they will do nothing to help the GOP comes November.  I can tell you right now that if you ask most of Congressman Paul's supporters right now if they would vote for or help the GOP nominee if it were anyone other than the Congressman, you would get a flat NO.  Then you would get preached to about the virtue of principle over party.  It's standard spiel from the Ron Paul playbook.  If the GOP is to beat President Obama in November, we will be doing it without their help.  Get used to it as nothing that we do or say to welcome them or alienate them will change their collective minds. 

The future of our party rests with the Conservative base who believe that abortion is wrong, taxation in its current state is unjust, government is too big and is the problem not the solution, Israel is our friend and Hamas, the PLO, Muslim Brotherhood, Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are our enemies, a strong offense is a good defense when it comes to foreign policy, Iran shouldn't be trusted to manufacture cap guns much less nuclear weapons,  anchor babies are precious gifts from our Creator but are nonetheless not our responsibility to spend tax payer money on and that our borders should be secure by any reasonable means, and that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  If you agreed with most of that, to paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy, "You may be a Conservative Republican."