One year later, I return

Another year away from the Politics blog.  Sorry about that. Wasted a lot of time over on Facebook during the 2012 election cycle.

To sum up the 2012 election results.  No president should have been re-elected with the economy in as bad a shape as ours has been.  As it was, President Obama is the first president to be re-elected to a second term with a smaller vote percentage than he had received during his first campaign.  Not that the media is doing anything other than have declared that he had a huge mandate, despite losing popular support from 2008 to 2012.

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.