WENDELL ROBINSON . COM

Politics are a fickle business. Quite often the people we want to run aren’t interested (think of Colin Powell in 1996), need to be convinced (Barry Goldwater in 1964), or do run and prove to be something other than anticipated (Ross Perot every time). In the 2008 presidential race on the Republican side we have two people (FRED Thompson and Newt Gingrich) flirting with the possibility of running, and conservative voters salivating for their entries.

Why?

There already is a conservative in the race who more than fulfills the conservative requirements to run for president - Jim Gilmore. Unlike FRED Newtrich (who need to be convinced to run) or Rudy McRomney (who claim to be conservative, but have a record that betrays the claim), Gilmore entered the race on his own volition and possesses a conservative record that the party and its right wing should embrace.

The Gilmore Record

• A resume that includes successful stints as governor and attorney general for the Commonwealth of Virginia
• A fiscal conservative who cut taxes by $1.5 Billion
• A strong pro-life record
• Staunchly anti-crime
• Selected by congress to direct the leading taskforce on terrorism and homeland security
• Former head of the RNC
• Former head of the Republican Governors Association

In case you need some more convincing, try this…

Contrast Gilmore’s record with the records of FRED Newtrich:

• A one and a half-term senator
• A lobbyist
• An actor
• Left the Congress in disgrace
• A history of marital infidelity

I’ve been involved with politics long enough to know that unless a candidate is in it for real, because they want to be in it - they usually fare poorly on Election Day. This doesn’t mean they have to be in from the start, it only means that when they get in they have to be in it all the way
…and they shouldn’t need someone else to convince them. The better candidates are the one’s that have to endure the scrutiny of convincing others to support them. They have to demonstrate how and why they deserve the voters’ support. If they’re not willing to do that, then they shouldn’t run.

This is not to say that FRED or Newt don’t have the right to run, but the choice seems to be pretty clear, and if you’re a conservative - what are you waiting for?