Romney – 26.7%
Gingrich – 22%
Santorum – 14.7%
Paul – 14.7%
Perry – 5.7%
Huntsman – 5.7%

However, considering that Mitt Romney has won the first two contests of this race and is ahead in South Carolina but hasn’t knocked out any of his competition, it’s safe to assume the core of the Republican Party is not satisfied with Mitt Romney. Therefore, here’s another way to look at the polling.

Mitt Romney – 26.7%
Anti-Romney – 42.4%
Other – 20.4%
Undecided – 10.5%

(According to a very recent Reuters poll, Romney has a 21% lead over Gingrich. I have severe doubts about the accuracy of those results.)

This data reflects polling done before the Santorum endorsement given by a large group of normally spineless evangelical leaders, including James Dobson and Tony Perkins. The fact that this endorsement came so late probably means it won’t mean anything in the decisions voters are making. If it does anything, it’s going to hurt Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich.

The reason these evangelicals even made an endorsement is because their fan base was pissed after 2008, blaming them for not backing Huckabee sooner before Fred Thompson could do all the damage he did to that campaign. In a lot of ways, their inaction was to blame for McCain’s nomination.

Since then, the importance of these “leaders” has waned significantly. Not only because their followers discovered they were more concerned with money and power than morality, but also because social issues like abortion and gay marriage have taken a back seat to federal and state budget and economic issues. But at least now, they will argue, you can’t blame them for not backing a candidate.

If they had made their endorsement sooner, it might have mattered. This late however, I agree with most of the other analyst bloggers out there, it won’t matter.

The real failure this year isn’t on them, however. The Republican Party is overwhelmingly decided that they do NOT want Mitt Romney to represent them in the General Election. The problem is that there are three guys who are absolutely convinced that they should be the candidate instead. It’s the fault of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Rick Perry that Mitt Romney will become the nominee. If any one of these candidates would drop out and immediately endorse one of their rivals (except Perry), they would be the kingmaker of 2012. If two would drop out and endorse someone, it would be a landslide against Mitt Romney.

Now, whether Gingrich and Perry endorse Santorum or Santorum and Perry endorse Gingrich, it doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is that the Republican Party would be thrilled and greatly represented by either one of these guys, especially when compared to Mitt Romney.

When Mitt Romney becomes our nominee, it will be the egos of these other candidates that are to blame.

This is a VERY important victory for organized religion in the United States. As Hans Bader mentioned in the Open Market article, it protects the Catholic Church’s male-only priesthood. Okay, that’s something that’s a bit controversial even among Catholics.

How about this for something everybody that doesn’t live in or around San Francisco can agree with: this Supreme Court ruling protects the Catholic Church’s tradition of female-only nuns! Seriously, you and I both know there are militant-gay individuals who would jump at the opportunity to make a mockery of the millions of nuns who have devoted their entire lives to God.

Note: Not all gays are militant. I’m talking about a very small minority of people when I say that.

Now, exactly what role Obama personally had in the Justice Department’s decision to even go after religious institutions isn’t known to me. I personally doubt he had much of a say at all. It’s not something a politician would try to do before an election.

HOWEVER, that doesn’t remove him from responsibility. This is Obama’s Justice Department. President Obama is responsible for hiring the people who implemented this totalitarian progressive mindset in the Justice Department.

In a sense, I’m glad they brought this case up. I was always curious to know if churches could get away with these kinds of hiring practices that would be completely illegal and unfair in the private sector. Not so much for positions like priests, but for positions like receptionists and accountants. Now we know.

Also, the US Supreme Court has gotten a lot of crap lately for some controversial rulings. Kudos are in order for this one. Not only did they do the right thing, they did it unanimously; which sets a stronger precedence for the future than a split vote.

Here’s the Washington Post blog piece by Dan Balz.

(9 January 2012) Rick Santorum and the Huckabee Trap

Two days earlier on 7 January 2012, you may remember I wrote this before the Presidential Debate on ABC.

(7 January 2012) Rick Santorum Should Be In South Carolina, Not New Hampshire!

Here’s an excerpt from my blog post:

After a razor thin 8-vote loss to Mitt Romney in Iowa, Rick Santorum is in New Hampshire hoping to shock the political world yet again. But, as Admiral Ackbar warns, “IT’S A TRAP!!!”

Let’s look at this without the Star Wars joke…

And then I explained my analysis of the situation without the Star Wars joke.

Rick Santorum is a solid conservative candidate that conservatives of all backgrounds could really get behind (Ron Paul’s supporters aren’t conservatives, they’re anti-conservative reactionaries and anarchists). The problem is that he is most often and easily identified as a social conservative. Unfortunately, while that was a huge benefit to him in Iowa, it doesn’t mean squat in New Hampshire, which is typically more interested in limited government and cutting taxes. Herein lies the trap that catches so many underdog candidates.

To illustrate what is going to happen, let’s take a minute to look at Mike Huckabee in 2008. After winning Iowa, Huckabee was on top of the world… except financially. In a lot of ways, he was in a much better position than Rick Santorum coming out of Iowa, having beaten Romney in a nearly landslide fashion. Like Santorum, Huckabee made the decision to go to New Hampshire… where he lost… miserably. [...] By the time Huckabee got to South Carolina, a state he should have won in a landslide, Huckabee found himself trying to fend off John McCain while Fred Thompson mercilessly attacked Huckabee. Huckabee narrowly lost South Carolina’s primary to McCain before Thompson dropped out.

[...]

Because Santorum has no chance of winning New Hampshire, like Huckabee, he really should head down to South Carolina and make his stand there. You have to remember, Santorum spent months preparing for his narrow loss to Romney in Iowa. He has precious few days in New Hampshire, so a victory there is almost entirely out of the question. South Carolina, on the other hand, is much more in line with his natural demographic and is at least weeks (not days) away.

As many of the readers who have been around since the Huckabee campaign will attest to, I have said since day one that going to New Hampshire was a mistake. I actually wrote about the problem for lesser-known or flat-out-broke Presidential Candidates in New Hampshire and beyond here:

Why Doesn’t Iowa Pick The Winners?

With six months or more, it’s possible for even the most incompetent and understaffed campaign team to lay the groundwork for victory providing they have a damn good candidate. For argument’s sake, let’s say Rick Santorum wins Iowa because he’s the most conservative candidate. He now has to move his entire campaign team to South Carolina (he’s smart enough to skip New Hampshire) and try laying the same winning ground work they had in a matter of only 15 days (1 for travel, 1 for the primary). That’s pretty much impossible.

Mike Huckabee had much the same problem in 2008. Only after Iowa, instead of going to South Carolina, Huckabee campaigned in New Hampshire. And after that, he went to Michigan; which moved their primary up really far. Huckabee lost both those states (one might say that was inevitable). By the time he got to South Carolina, he had moved his entire campaign team THREE times, had more losses than victories, and ignored South Carolina while Fred Thompson was in the state assailing him mercilessly with nobody in the state to respond. Huckabee eventually lost South Carolina, too.

I would have posts going back to 2008 all saying the same thing if my account wasn’t hacked and deleted by Ron Paulbots a while ago.

Here’s what the Washington Post’s Dan Balz wrote today.

Rick Santorum and the Huckabee Trap

MANCHESTER, N.H. — No one has campaigned harder in New Hampshire this past week than Rick Santorum. But has the Republican former senator from Pennsylvania fallen into the same trap that ensnared Mike Huckabee four years ago?

There is something alluring about New Hampshire and its storied presidential primary. The gravitational pull of the state’s history, its tradition and the clutch of media that descend on the state during primary week can be irresistible, particularly to a dark-horse candidate who springs a surprise in Iowa.

But there is also the cruel reality that, for Santorum, South Carolina looms as a more crucial test for his candidacy. In New Hampshire, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is the clear favorite to win. The electorate here includes a smaller percentage of social and religious conservatives who were key to Santorum’s success in Iowa.

Would Santorum have been better off spending the bulk of his time since Iowa burrowing into South Carolina rather than New Hampshire? Four years ago, Huckabee won Iowa and was faced with a decision similar to the one Santorum confronted. The former Arkansas governor opted to make a play for New Hampshire (and later Michigan) rather than heading south to plant a flag in South Carolina. His reward? He finished a distant third, with just 11 percent of the vote.

When the Palmetto State voted a few weeks later, Huckabee narrowly lost to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), effectively ending his hopes of winning the GOP nomination. Former senator Fred Thompson (Tenn.), who had parked in South Carolina after Iowa and received enough votes there to destroy Huckabee’s chances of beating McCain, also hurt him.

[...]

I mean, take away my personal experiences and Star Wars humor, and it’s the same thing two days later. Balz even called it a “TRAP!”

Am I crazy here or was my post plagiarized by the Washington Post? When I was in college, if I tried to do something like this, I’m pretty sure every last one of my professors would have kicked me out of their class and reported me for plagiarism. Then again, maybe it’s not plagiarism; and I just worked really hard for nothing, writing my own papers by expressing my own thoughts.

As I said before, this is exactly why people read KTracy.com. The analysis you get here is completely unique from what you find anywhere else (especially the Washington Post). Plus, there’s a lot more fun being had here. When’s the last time Admiral Ackbar and Sun Tzu were quoted in the same article by any national news organization?

Earlier this year, Mike Huckabee made his decision a week-long suspense thriller on his self-titled Fox News show.   All the friends I made on the Huckabee bandwagon were going crazy about Huckabee 2012 that week.  Of course, when I told you it would be illegal for him to announce his candidacy on his own television show, nobody seemed to care what I had to say because they didn’t want to hear it.  As I predicted, Huckabee decided not to run.  He even decided not to run for the very reason I said he wouldn’t: a higher degree of dedication to personal greed over national service.

That’s capitalism.

Well, now it’s several months later and everyone seems to be in agreement that we have a really crappy selection of Republican candidates.  So what happens?  You guessed it.  People start talking about Huckabee again, as though he was some sort of Messiah of politics and this is somehow the end times.  In other words, they’re behaving like those really annoying, over-dramatic teenage girls who obsess over television shows on the CW and blow everything way out of proportion when one of their shows is about to be canceled.

According to Reuters, two anonymous Huckabee insiders say that he’s re-considering the run for the White House… for whatever that’s worth.  Almost two years ago, I talked to someone Reuters would probably consider a Huckabee insider who said that 9/11 was an inside job.  If you look around, you can find “insiders” for anyone who will say anything.

When asked about this on Fox, Huckabee said that unless someone gave him $50 million, it was financially and organizationally impossible to run for President.

Keep in mind, I don’t think Huckabee raised a total of $5 million when he ran for President last time.  Also keep in mind that his HuckPAC was an even larger fundraising disaster than his run for the White House in 2007-2008.  Also also keep in mind that someone donating $50 million to Huckabee to run for President would be a violation of campaign finance laws.

Look, this story is just as simple as it was at the beginning of the year.  Mike Huckabee has a sweet gig selling books and eating donuts in the green rooms of New York television stages.  He has nothing to gain from running for President again.  Frankly put, he turned his backs on all of his supporters who followed him religiously and awaited his second coming to a Presidential race.  Behold, your false political god!

Personally, I’m fine with him staying out of the race.  Mike Huckabee, as I failed to fully realize until a year after he dropped out in 2008, is a dangerously ignorant politician.