Don't Tarry Toward the Exit Gov. Perry

Whenever a candidate drops out of a political race and endorses another candidate immediately, it makes you wonder about the staging and timing of the announcement.
Set just two days before voting in SC, one can only wonder how long behind-the-scene negotiations have been going on.  Who is sharing what polling info. These things don't occur by happenstance of course because there are no coincidences in politics.

So Perry's voters are now Newt's as it were, if he were free to give them. Or they are free to go with the arch conservative Santorum, who somehow manages to cling by manicured fingernails to the leaders' board behind the moderate Morman and wherever Ron PAul is on the dance card.

What this will mean is a temporarily stronger Tea Party and ultraconservative wing of the GOP's tenuous non-coalition.  Sure, you have to lean right in the primaries, if you're a fringe candidate especially, but Romney has stayed the course for more than four years now running against Obama more than against his GOP rivals from the get go. So say you have the GOP basically divided into thirds, 1/3 moderate, 1/3 libertarian (in Ron Paul's dreams) and 1/3 conservative/Christian right. Romney gets more than his third mostly from Paul, probably approaching 45% and the Gingrichians and Santorumites split what remains that Paul's hardcore drones don't lock down.

I am dubious that strategy of conservative-backed candidates consolidating their supporters behind one ubercandidate to oppose the moderate wing will prevail.  Eventually Santorum will have to fold his support in with Newt and/or Paul if he is as arrogant as I think it is, it may mean he holds out until the PA primary in three months. The Non-Mittophiles will likely need to muster every vote turning out to make a statement, but not a winning statement.  Eventually Romney will get more than a plurality and get majority percentage wins, but not until another candidate drops out probably.

In order to contest with Obama in the fall, it might be wiser to be running against him all along.

Ja66erwock