I am not overly sorry to see Bachmann drop out. I found her to be entirely to polarizing, having a narrow scope of view on many social issues. Still, her stance on a return to fiscal sanity was one I could agree with. Not enough to vote for her in a primary. But at least she was right on SOMETHING.

With Cain out - whether the accusations were legit or not - I now support Newt. While I disagree with him on a few issues, the "major stumbling blocks" that most want to use about him are not real problems for me. Previous marital infidelity? We are all to some degree prone to lust. Global warming ads? He admits he didn't dig deep enough into the subject. Ignorance that is corrected is no crime. Fannie/Freddie? He personally earned less than 40k for writing papers that advised the behemoths to stop the insane mortgage practices that GSE's were involved in. I fail to see how that is unethical in any way.
Seriously - who doubts he would clobber the President in a debate?

Huntsman would be a great presidential candidate - except he is running in the primary of the wrong party. No thanks.

Romney is little more than Obama jr politically. What is truly sad and disheartening is that he doesn't even realize that he is banking on the propoganda of the left regarding the tea party. He honestly believes they will break for him simply because he is the "white" liberal. Sadly, the establishment of the party has made the same mistake. Why they choose to push for a pseudo-conservative instead of a real one is simply an battle for power against the tea party. It is the establishment that moved the republicans into being the "democrat light" party - and they don't want to lose the power they have had for decades. If anyone thinks Romney can beat Obama - he may be Obama jr politically - but he is McCain redux in a presidential election.

Paul is the crazy uncle in the room. The guy is a fiscal genius, but his ideas past that should have run him out of public service long ago. His stances on abortion, legalization of drugs, immigration and foreign policy make him an unsuitable candidate for many segments of the populace - not just of the republican party.

Perry is what the media tried to convince us George Bush was.. He is a likeable guy and not unintelligent in some ways. However, his ability to communicate, his ability to convey coherent thoughts in a way that resonate -simply don't exist consistently when he is on the national stage. The push for the presidency is too big for him - meaning the job most defintely is.

Santorum is not the worst choice. If SC/FLA force Newt out (which would suprise me) and if he is still in the race - he would be my next choice. I question some of his positions as well, but I have seen him parry well the gotcha's and he is showing more strength that I thought. He may very well be a long term contender.

Good analysis!

I personally still see Gingrich as very much the same type of establishment candidate than Romney, albeit with somewhat more socially-conservative views. They have very different personal styles and campaign approaches, but ultimately I don't expect them to come out especially different in office. I don't really believe in either Gingrich's alleged conservatism or Romney's alleged moderate-ness. They're not the same thing, but they're still very much hovering nearest to the center of Republican mainstream, which in today's polarized climate doesn't necessarily mean a good thing. In the end I would expect both of them to fall into being mild, non-offensive neoconservatives without a lot of teeth if they do make it to office. This would please the GOP core, but probably not the broader public.

The fact is that the traditionally-Republican crowd in the US is very fragmented and polarized right now, and neither Gingrich nor Romney are showing a lot of promise in their ability to get it back together. What they'll do by falling in the middle is please neither the moderates nor the Tea Party. Even assuming they make it to presidency, they may have a tough time following through effectively. In some sense then, it might even be good for the GOP to let Obama sit through this period while they try to work out what team R is supposed to be all about.

TY CCIP. Regarding Newt as being "establishement" and as a president, I will share a few thoughts and hope to hear your views on them.

Newt as "establishment" is really humorous to me. Yes, he was a power player in Washington at one time. But because he stuck to his conservative principals during the govt shutdown, he was run out of town by his own party. Now in this primary season, we see senior politicians that have worked with Newt come out against him rather forcefully. These are the power players in the party now. These guys are the ones backing Romney - they ARE the "establishment" of the party. They don't want Newt because if he were to win - he would do what he did before - stick to his guns - but with the bully pulpit of the Presidency to use. This represents a threat to him - which is why they are aiding Romney as hard as they can.

Newt as president - you really see him as being mild? I can't see it. What I can see is him turning things like the State of the Union Address into a classroom lecture to Congress to get stuff done for the American People. I don't think that would be mild. I could see Newt using the bully pulpit exceptionally well to demonstrate to the American people WHY Congress needs to fix the tax code, reform Social Security, return to fiscal sanity, etc - and get them behind the changes. Also important - I don't see Newt trying to go beyond the constitutional powers of the office to try and get his way.

On Romney - the guy raised taxes, appointed liberal judges, his health care plan used mandates (which he still supports for the state but not in Obamacare), part of his staff helped write the AHCA, the housing "salvation" plan that the White House is considering is a further bailout initially drawn up by one of Romney's current economic advisors.... I could go on but is it necessary? If Obama really wanted to change the dynamics of this election, he would ditch Biden and offer Romney the VP job to "help heal the partisan divide of the political structure in Washington, and in the nation".

I will say this - one thing I would love to see the Team R nominee do - is publicly offer Ron Paul an immediate nomination as head of the Fed once he is sworn in. This would solidify not only most Paul supporters, but more importantly would put a hgihly qualified individual in a place where his strengths could benefit the country the most, and keep his kookiness from harming the country.