It was a tight race in Iowa and Romney squeaked out a win over Santorum by 8 votes!  Now Conservatives all over America are in full suicide watch mode and gnashing their teeth at the thought of Mittens as the Republican nominee.

Bachmann is out, Perry is still running (but finished in 5^th place in Iowa), Huntsman is a joke, Gingrich is sliding back to Earth, Paul’s poor performance in Iowa shows he is done and Santorum is the only “Not-Romney” candidate still showing life.   Romney is all but certain to win New Hampshire by a large margin and barring a miracle with Santorum/Gingrich/Perry, Romney is poised to win the Palmetto State as well.  Winning the first 3 caucus/primary states will be huge and whoever survives past South Carolina faces an uphill battle to topple Romney so for all intents and purposes, Romney appears to be the inevitable Republican Presidential nominee. 

It’s obvious that Romney is not “Tea Party” Conservative and having Mittens as the Republican nominee causes many Conservatives to throw up their hands and contemplate giving up.  Calm down!  I consider myself a Tea Party Conservative and while I would have preferred another candidate for the eventual nominee, I am not only comfortable with the thought of Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential nominee, I’m excited about it.  Here’s why.

Rollback Regulation

Romney has stated that he’ll roll back the Obama regime’s over-regulation (from such agencies as the DoJ, FDA and HHS) which has been killing American business.  He’ll not only repeal Obamacare but also repeal Dodd-Frank and modify Sarbanes-Oxley to give smaller companies a break from its massive regulatory requirements.  Regulations are not only killing businesses but actually killing Americans and if we have a person who promises to roll these back, that is reason enough for me to vote for the guy.  Removing the handcuffs of over-regulation is just what the Market needs to provide positive expectations that will lead to a true recovery.

Reign in Union Thugs

Organized labor has had a field day under Obama, Pelosi and Reid.  They have enjoyed protection from their intimidating tactics and politicians they have bought (Obama included) have tried to push through the controversial Card Check legislation (eliminating secret ballots and allowing unions to intimidate the voting process).  The most heinous of Obama’s union paybacks was the National Labor Relations Board bringing charges against Boeing for expanding in South Carolina (which is a Right to Work state). 

Romney has agreed to stop all of these shenanigans as well as staff the NLRB with people who are interested in enforcing the laws as written instead of promoting a Union agenda.  Businesses can’t operate and expect to thrive in the current labor climate perpetuated by Obama and the NLRB and it appears the Romney wishes to change that climate to be more business friendly.

Energy Policy that Makes Sense

The EPA has been on a mission to kill any new energy project and choke off existing energy production by adding Carbon Dioxide to the Clean Air Act.  Manmade Global Warming Climate Change is a myth and I’ve already debunked that here and Romney appears to favor sensible approaches to the EPA rules and enforcement.   Romney wants to amend the Clean Air Act to eliminate Carbon Dioxide, make sure the rules have accounted for the economic impact, approve new nuclear power plant designs, open America’s energy reserves for development and streamline approval process for permits. 

Fiscal Responsibility

Our National Debt is equal to our GDP, 90% of all tax revenues go to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare or Unemployment Insurance and Government spending is on a pace to hit 40% of GDP by 2075 (compared to a historical average of 18%).   This is not sustainable and in 2013 we need to replace Obama with someone who will reverse this trend.  Romney will do this by balancing the Federal Budget, capping government spending as a percentage of GDP and reforming Medicaid.

He Scares Obama

Obama and his team are scared of Mitt and I know this because several months ago they tipped their hand and let us all know how they are going to fight him in the general election.  They will not be able to paint Romney as a radical “Right Winger” and will instead be forced to characterize him as a flip-flopper with no integrity.  The fact that Obama has let this strategy slip out in public statements means that either his team is so consumed with Romney that they made this fatal mistake or his team was hoping the Republicans would pick up on the leak and turn away from Mitt in the primaries.  Either way, it is evidence that Obama is worried about facing Romney in the General Election and that fact makes me feel good!

So relax angry Conservatives – Romney will roll back regulations, reign in union thugs, follow an energy policy that makes sense, practice fiscal responsibility and scare the hell out of Obama.   Would we have liked a more Conservative candidate?  Sure, but I’m not sure anyone in the current field of “Not Romney” candidates would beat Obama. 

The goal of every Conservative in 2012 should be the removal of Obama from office and as we stand right now, Romney is the only candidate that is showing, according to the polls, that he can defeat Obama in the General Election.  You know the saying, “You have to be elected in order to govern” and it does conservatives no favors to elect a super conservative candidate that is unelectable in the General Election.  I am a big fan of Michelle Bachmann but having her as the nominee would have meant 4 more years of Obama and I hate to say it but anyone else still in the field will mean the same thing according to that Rasmussen poll.  

It’s not like we haven’t had enough debates on national TV to let the general public get to know these candidates.  The polling numbers we see now will be the polling numbers we see in November and the fact remains – only Romney can beat Obama.

Romney is the only candidate to withstand the crucible that every candidate has put him through over the past year.  Think about it, from the day Romney entered the race everyone has been more concerned with the “Not Romney” candidate than the Romney candidate.  A lesser quality individual would’ve folded under that pressure, lack of notoriety and scrutiny but here stands Mitt Romney, still the front runner and scaring the hell out of Obama.