Maryland's Primary is April 3

With one of my last posts, I endorsed Rick Santorum. In six days (or now if I choose early voting) I can make my vote for the Republican nomination for President. And, although I still like Santorum a lot, I see Mitt Romney as far more presidential than Santorum. I've liked the way he has responded on the campaign trail to the ups and downs of the election cycle. Both Santorum and Newt Gingrich have showed frustration in losing where they lashed out at Romney in inappropriate ways.

I'm ready for this nomination cycle to come to a close, so I will vote for Mitt Romney on Tuesday.

Donald Trump Endorses Mitt

A big surprise to see Donald Trump make an endorsement of Mitt Romney today. Trump has stated that he is very disappointed with the Obama presidency and that he wanted to see him defeated. Yet it never seemed out of the realm of possibility that he would run as an independent in the fall. So, whether this gets any more Republicans to support Romney than my endorsement of Santorum helps him is not really the issue. What is accomplished today is that we have cleared Trump away as a Third party candidate.

In addition to the Trump announcement, the Washington Post had a story today on how Ron Paul and Mitt Romney were actually close and they did not take verbal shots at one another. It thus seemed clear to me that Ron Paul would also be unlikely to run Third Party against Romney. So we should have a clear one-on-one race with Romney and Obama this Fall.

Rick Santorum

I quietly endorsed former Senator Rick Santorum for President yesterday on a friend's Facebook comments. Although he is behind in the polls, I choose to support him for his consistent conservative views and his excellent moral character. I am especially drawn to him because of the way that he and his wife went through some difficult pregnancies -- including one that ended at 20 weeks gestation. They also kept true to their pro-life principles when their youngest daughter was born about three years ago with severe handicaps. Just this last weekend she required hospitalization. My wife and I have gone through some similar experiences as Rick and Karen Santorum, so I feel good about my endorsement.

Newt Gingrich is an exciting candidate and could make an excellent president, but his admitted moral failings as well as his inability to maintain the support of his own caucus in the late 1990s demonstrate that he is too flawed. Even during this campaign he has sometimes seemed a bit too unpredictable, such as when he attacked Romney from the left over Romney's former career.

Mitt Romney impresses me greatly. Don't forget that he was the conservative choice in 2008 versus John McCain (I looked it up.) He has been a steady candidate and he has lived a model life. But his conservative credentials are much weaker than Santorum's, so I choose Santorum. It definitely looks likely that Romney will be the eventual nominee and if that is the case I will back him strongly against President Obama in the general election.

Newt Gingrich is Bill Clinton

Yes, Newt Gingrich is so very similar to Bill Clinton and he really showed it in the debate in South Carolina last night. Just as Bill Clinton feigned outrage at the media for asking questions about his extramarital affairs, so too did Newt Gingrich act angry at the questions being put to him in light of the interview of his ex-wife on ABC. The interview itself told us nothing really new, except that Gingrich apparently wanted what Clinton had which was the ability to have a marriage and also paramours on the side. It has ben obvious to all for many years that the Clintons have such an arrangement.

Gingrich. like Clinton, is a very intelligent man who came of age in the Sixties. Clinton has moved right when he felt he need to and Gingrich moved left when he thought he should do so. They both attempt to use religion to get forgiveness from the public.

Frankly, I just think Gingrich is too arrogant and unpredictable to be president. I wish that weren't the case.

UPDATE: Conservative journalist R. Emmet Tyrell's similar viewpoint as published Jan. 25, 2012:

How long have I been saying it? At least for 15 years, but in private I have been aware of it longer. Newt Gingrich is conservatism’s Bill Clinton, but without the charm. He has acquired wit but he has all the charm of barbed wire.

Newt and Bill are 1960s generation narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and deviancy. Newt, like Bill, has a proclivity for girl hopping. It is not as egregious as Bill’s, but then Newt is not as drop-dead beautiful. His public record is already besmeared with tawdry divorces, and there are private encounters with the fair sex that doubtless will come out.