(photo via Politico.com)

by:  Daniel Peterson (Daniel is member of Queens Republican County Committee – Dir. of New Media and Former President and Member of the New York Young Republican Club Inc.)

The Republican voter is left with six remaining candidates: Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum and not one of them stands with the rock star status Barack Obama gave Democrats four years ago. Each has his flaws. Not one of them fits the mold as the ideal smaller government conservative, but we do have one thing on our side – the House of Representatives – so we should be in good shape with any one of them. Here’s a brief rundown for the New York Primary voter, assuming all of them stay in the race through April.

Newt Gingrich. Gingrich is liked by many younger voters. He looks ahead and not backwards using a conservative take on progressivism. He fleshes out ideas and he promotes the reagan ideal of smaller and effective government. Yet Gingrich’s record is also all over the map. He’s challenged the conservative orthodoxy and angered countless Republicans in doing so. His stubbornness caused a government shutdown in the 1990s and the Democrats spun the issue to pit the public against Congress. In just four years, he went all the way to the top as Speaker of the House to resigning from his seat in disgrace.

Fast forward to 2011, many political insiders have asked if Gingrich has matured as a person and can handle the role of president. Early on, when he was just a blip in the polls, he was positive, supportive of all the nine other candidates who appeared in debates with him and kept his message on President Obama. When he rose in the polls as a legitimate contender, his record was put on display for all primary voters to see and questions arose on whether or not he fits the conservative mold. The temperament that pundits worried would pop up suddenly popped up. His views for his presidency have also come into question with smaller government proponents. His argument to abolish circuit courts or forcing judges to be questioned by Congress comes off as authoritarian and worries voters who staunchly support the separation of powers.

Jon Huntsman. On paper, one would look at Huntsman’s record as governor and fall in love with his ability to use his conservative approach in a practical way. Huntsman is an ideal conservative, but the public is being told he is a moderate. It’s not that he’s a moderate but that he understands we have a two party system and we have to win conservative victories when possible and compromise with Liberals with certain matters in order to get the job (or get a job) done. This is how Ronald Reagan operated. His foreign policy views bring us back to the message George W. Bush argued in 2000. A smaller humble foreign policy that presents a strong America, but still protects our homeland and global interests.

Huntsman’s biggest flaw is his personality. He comes across rude and condescending. He cracks unfunny jokes directed at his fellow Republicans and insults his electorate! I’m not sure he has taken the role of the presidency seriously enough. It’s as if he was coaxed into running for office, committed to doing so and then when no none jumped on his campaign he felt slighted and is lashing out knowing full well he’s not going to win. It’s a shame because I think he adds the right amount of libertarian views into the Republican field without going overboard with it.

Ron Paul. For more than thirty years, Ron Paul has been promoting a pro-liberty smaller government agenda in Congress and occasionally running for president. It wasn’t a new concept, but with America moving into a big government-social safety-net society during the twentieth century, libertarian had become foreign to the average man. Ron Paul became the messenger for promoting ideals on individual freedom and keeping government from intruding in our daily lives.

Liberals and conservatives argued that a libertarian would bring anarchy. Folks like Morton Downey Jr would challenge Paul saying his views promoted the freedom to shoot your own kids. Rather than listen to the message of a pro-liberty agenda, liberals and conservatives would argue an absolute extreme situation that no one in his right mind would side with. Fortunately, the libertarian movement has grown stronger and the message is resonating with younger voters and it certainly has hit home with many veterans.

Could, or perhaps, should Ron Paul win the Republican nomination for president? Paul would be sworn in at the age of 77 next January. His vice-presidential choice would be very important if he got the nomination. Many people worry that he would leave America vulnerable to foreign threats because he doesn’t take intelligence seriously. However, if Republicans hold the House and retake the Senate, there will be enough strong legislators that could keep the president in check when it comes to protecting Americans. If a libertarian should choose an alternative, perhaps Huntsman would fit that bill.

Rick Perry. I don’t know why Rick Perry announced he would run for president when in early 2007 in an interview, he adamantly stated that he would not run for president. Somehow his record and easy going personality seemed to attract political operatives to push him into the race and he immediately raced to the top of the heap. Perfectly described with the famous Saturday Night Live moniker, he was “not ready for prime time.” It was as if he didn’t hire an opposition research specialist to question his record. He wasn’t familiar with foreign affairs and couldn’t transform a successful State record to a National message.

Perry would probably be a good president, but not great. His goofy personality could become an embarrassment to Republicans and having to endear eight years of liberals calling George W. Bush stupid is not something Republicans want for another four years. He would probably be the most suitable conservative of the remaining six, but the New York primary is in April and I don’t see him staying in that long.

Mitt Romney. Everyone is throwing money into Mitt Romney’s campaign, but it seems nobody in the electorate really wants Mitt Romney to win. Romney is the best choice for Republicans and the worst choice. Republicans want a true Reagan conservative, but a Romney nomination would be like the Republicans nominating George H.W. Bush in 1980. The only saving grace Republicans can argue this time is that sixty members of the House were elected by the Tea Party and if Republicans take back the Senate, chances are a few Tea Party types will win seats. I’m constantly hearing people say they don’t trust Romney. Trust him with what? We’ve already had to deal with Nancy Pelosi running the House and we still have Harry Reid running the Senate. Let’s not forget the man currently in the White House. A Romney presidency can’t be anything worse than what we’ve gone through over the past six years.

Rick Santorum. Lastly, this year’s Mike Huckabee appears to be Rick Santorum. Santorum is considered conservative for his religious views, but when you look at his record, he is far from a conservative candidate. To date, I have not heard him openly admit his liberal positions while in the Senate and apologize for it.

Strangely, the liberal media chooses not to go after Santorum’s real disqualification as a Republican presidential candidate. He’s being attacked as someone who holds extreme views. Well, someone who is religious isn’t extreme. In fact, the majority of Americans are religious, so I’m not sure why he would be attacked this way. Some conservative pundits have brought up his real flaws, though. He’s never met a pork-barrel project he can’t support. He’s funneled money into non-profit organizations that in fact, have profited him personally. I simply do not see him as a President that would actually reduce our deficit and build our country’s economic stability.

The choice of candidates this year is much like 2008 and it seems not one person really excites the electorate. The Tea Party movement brought excitement because there were four hundred fifty elections for the House and Senate and the media got to explore many of them. This year, we have a presidential race, which has directed all the media attention away from legislative races. House elections will again be important – especially after redistricting –  and the GOP needs to look at expanding the number of seats won from 2010. Tea Partiers and libertarian Republicans need to add or take seats away from the more liberal office holders. We’ve learned in the last decade that the establishment Republicans like to spend out money just as the Democrats do, only just not as much all at once. Our presidential choice will be important, but so will our leaders in Congress.