South Carolina Speaks

While not our first choice, tonight's outcome in South Carolina is an indicator that the Republican mainstream rejects the "next-in-line" establishment choice for our party and wants radical change.

One cannot argue that Mitt Romney is an outsider when he not only received the support of Governor Haley and Treasurer Loftis, but the endorsement of others of the Republican establishment like the Bush family and our last failed nominee, John McCain. Indeed, those endorsements probably cost Romney votes.

In good times, the South Carolina electorate will put social issues to the fore and might have been expected to support Rick Santorum; but the results tonight suggest that the economic crisis and defeat of Barack Hussein Obama are first and foremost in the minds of the Republican electorate. Over the course of several debates Gingrich convinced voters that he is well prepared to fiercely debate a president who needs a teleprompter to make routine welcoming remarks at small diplomatic and social events in the White House. While Santorum often sounded like he was debating policy details on the floor of the Senate, Romney played it safe and appeared to be marking time until Inauguration Day. He exuded all the vision and passion of Gerald Ford, George Herbert Walker Bush and Bob Dole. Gingrich, on the other hand, lashed out at the media everyone loves to hate and gave America a vision of what may be in store for a failed President.

Each of the three principal contenders has won one primary. When all is said and done, we believe Rick Santorum has the experience, commitment, principles and constancy to make the better President. But the lesson tonight is that Republican voters want bold, aggressive leadership and conservative solutions, even if to get them, they have to hold their nose and send a serial adulterer and his mistress of eight years to the White House.