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It could be a huge difference if nominating Romney or another pale imitation Obama costs them 5% of the votes to a third party conservative candidate.

I agree within states like Texas but in Texas and other strongly conservative states voters want a more conservative republican on average and as important as Texas is with the economy, resources and population it will honestly have much more to do with how the people of the usual battle ground states vote. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Missouri etc.

These states will more then likely determine the election next year. States like Texas aren't going to have its electoral college points go for Obama and New York and Illinois isn't going republican. Most of the battle ground states want moderate republicans not hard line conservatives. It doesn't matter if Obama only gets 20% of the vote in Texas if he wins just a few key states like we saw last election. In 08 56% of the popular vote in Texas voted republican and it will likely increase to 60%-70% next year but it won't matter if he wins key states.

Hopefully all the swing states that went Obama in 08 will wise up and vote republican NO matter who is their nominee.

If just a few states like NM, CO, MN, WI etc vote republican it will change everything. I assume at least half of these states will go back to Rep. next year and these states aren't even the closest races.

This post has changed so much over the months but I will play along. Does Perry have a chance of still getting the nomination? Yes. Does Newt and Romney have a better chance of getting more votes the Perry? Yes. The bottom line is moderates and independents are more likely to vote for Newt and Romney. They might only get 3% more votes but that could make all the difference!

At this point I personally will vote for any candidate, president or congress that is going to get this economy back on track. The economy is much worse then the news says IMO. They say 8-9% unemployment but what about all the people who were laid off and now make 8-10 bucks an hour. They are considered employed! There are a LOT of them! These are the underemployed at it is growing everyday! You can't raise a family let alone live off that! Real unemployment is closer to 20% especially when you consider the last 4 years of college grads who are still praying for jobs over 10 bucks an hour!

Either way anything is better then Obama. He is the do nothing President and I hope history recounts it this way!

Didn't say different, just stating my observations. Many here have commented on how bad the public speaking abilities of some of the candidates are. Obviously I understand what you are saying. A great example of this is Obama. A great speaker even though the content is horrid! I know we all remember how many thought he was going to bring HOPE and CHANGE but the poor are still poor and the middle class are becoming poor. That’s his hope and change. HOPE for a job and CHANGE to unemployment!

Cain is more of a "moderate" or Republican lite but I have to agree with you Roy. After seeing Perry, Romney and Cain talk, Cain is definitely a better speaker. I don't know if I would want him over Perry but I think I would prefer him over Romney. Honestly I think this country needs another Ronald Reagan. It will be interesting in the coming months!

We will see. I bit my tongue last time and did my part with McCain-Palin even though I knew it was hopeless and I will do it again if need be but there were just too many people looking at Palin and running for the hills. That on top of a horrid campaign, state of the country etc led a lot of “liberal" Republicans (or what ever you want to call them, independents etc) and conservative democrats to not even consider McCain because they couldn't stomach Palin. I remember being in the voting both saying to myself "Don't you dare die on us John". We know now this wouldn't have been a problem but many people I know voted different. Some voted Dem, some Libertarian or I even met a few who went Green. These were people who voted this way not because they had any allegiance to these parties but because they were fed up with being ignored. Obviously they make their protest and we are now reaping the results but my point is that these people should NOT be ignored.

People are saying Obama will never win again because people are against him but I still know a lot of people in the Northeast and California who would follow him of a cliff and my guess is they will next year. The man is down but not out. We would be good to remember that!!

Perfect evidence for the need for a major 3rd party is McCain-Palin; as soon as I saw this I knew it was over. They couldn't even stand each other! That whole ticket was a grab for all people of conservative roots and it was a very bad idea to try that! The Republican Party has a split personality and argues with each other just as much as the democrats. Those two had very little in common other then that they were both on the Republican ticket.

Tacticool- That sounds right to me. People said this in 2008 and you know what, I really think we need at least a 3rd party that is a major player. There are Libertarians but they are never going to win anytime soon. Green party? I don't think so! Like I said earlier I will vote Republican because they have more of what I want then any other party but they are surely missing principals that I crave.

Like I have said before, I don't want chocolate or vanilla. I want chocolate swirl!! Nope all out of chocolate swirl. What do you want chocolate or vanilla? One or the other, you can't have both!!

I think between the last few posts we can see how this can greatly effect the election next year. The conservatives or the people who vote Republican more often then not are a very diverse group. I just hope that moderate Republicans don't vote Obama because they are afraid of the conservative right. I personally will vote for a religious fiscal conservative before Obama any day of the week! We need to come together and vote for who is best for this country!

I think I am with you on this Keith. I have similar views. I always considered myself a conservative but the older I get the more I realize that it is fiscal and government based. Socially I think I am more moderate. I find it funny talking to friends about liberals and conservatives. Many of my friends are liberal (Texas liberal, I guess you could call them conservative democrats that vote Republican more then half the time.) I have relatives in New York and New Jersey and liberals up north are very different then liberals in Texas. Heck, the liberals here are sometimes more conservative then the republicans up north. A couple of my close friends are religious conservatives and obviously are more inclined to vote Republican.

Where does that leave me? My friends who are "more liberal" call me a conservative and my friends who are religiously conservative call me a liberal. I am not a democrat and don't plan on voting that way anytime soon.