Until recently the idea of me supporting someone other than Governor Palin for President in 2012 was unthinkable. Ever since the 2008 election I spent most of my day defending and correcting Governor Palin’s record in preparation of her running for president. I set up, maintained and financed multiple Palin support sites including PalinTV,  Conservatives4Palin, Organize4Palin, Palin4Ameirca. With some websites, it was public knowledge that I was operating them; with others, to this day only a handful of people are aware that I was behind them. I spent the better part of three years and thousands of dollars hoping for a President Palin in 2012.

Like the majority of Palin supporters, I believed only Sarah Palin was qualified to be president and only Sarah Palin could beat Obama. I believed that the other candidates were totally useless and had no chance in beating the president. Sarah Palin was flawless and the other candidates had nothing but flaws. If Palin runs, everything will be perfect; if she doesn’t, we’re screwed.

Then everything changed: on October 5th, Governor Palin announced she isn’t running. To be honest, I saw it coming. I was prepared for the possibility and even did my best to try to prepare others for the scenario. When Palin announced she wasn’t running, some people took the “we’re screwed” attitude.  However, I decided to rip off the band aid, move on and for the sake of my kids not let the world get screwed.

My support for Governor Palin wasn’t just because she is a pretty face. I supported her because I believed in what she stood for; I abide by her principles and I believed that Governor Palin could lead America and the world to a better and brighter future.  When I support a candidate for office, it’s not so much that I stand with them; I support candidates that stand with me. I don’t adjust my principles to what the candidates’ principles are, I have my principles and I try to find the candidate that most matches my criteria. While I didn’t agree with Palin on everything, she came closest to the things I believe in. Now that she isn’t running I had to go and find a candidate that does.  I had to go examine the records and capabilities of those in the field to see who comes closest to the things I stand for.

Many argue that the current Republican field is weak. It’s easy to sit in the comfort of your home or office and complain on twitter and facebook or blog about how everyone sucks. If you don’t like those who are in the race, or think you can do a better job, get out of your comfort zone and get into the race yourself or try to find a person you do think you can support and get them to enter the race. Whether you like the current candidates or not, at least they are doing something about it by putting themselves out there. Like it or not, this is the deck we’ve been dealt; we ought to deal with it like adults.  Sitting around and sulking won’t get anyone anywhere.

In every election cycle, members of the particular party always complain about how weak the field is. This always happens. It happened in 2008, it happened in 2004, in 2000 and it even happened in the 1980 cycle when Ronald Reagan was in the field. I’m pretty sure that if you go back in history you will find that people complained about every single race beginning with George Washington. Eventually a candidate always emerges that we feel we can all get behind and when we are successful in electing them, they all turn out to be pretty good in one way or another. We don’t always agree with them on everything but when we look back, more often than not we’re quite comfortable with our selection.

Governor Palin can say she doesn’t need a title to make a difference, and that may be true with her. But someone does need to have the title, we need a president, and I for one don’t want Obama to get re-elected. Each of the candidates in the race have their pros and cons. There are many things on which I agree with every one of them and there are many things on which I disagree with every one of them. And while there are those that I can’t see myself supporting, they all have one thing in common: they are all patriots. I believe they all want what’s best for the country and I would pick any one of them over the current occupant of the oval office. However, I still would rather get the candidate that mostly meets my criteria, and for me that person is Newt Gingrich.

Newt Gingrich is a man of ideas, is smart, has solutions, knows how the world works, and has leadership qualities. No one can argue that Gingrich is not qualified to be president.  I can see Gingrich in the situation room making tough decisions without needing 16 hours to adjust or calculate how it will affect him politically. A President Gingrich would be feared by dictators and respected by our allies.

Sure, Gingrich may be old school but sometimes it is old school that we need. In today’s climate where the world is falling apart in front of our eyes, we need ourselves some old school, someone that knows how the system works and how the game is played. This is not a cycle where we can afford to focus on style or on making history or proving a point. There is too much going on in the world to worry about what someone did in their personal life over a decade ago, especially when the true facts are sketchy at best. In this election cycle, people won’t care about the drama; people will care about the issues and if Gingrich ever has a shot at winning, it is this cycle. With the current deck we’ve been dealt, Gingrich is the ace in the pack.

Newt Gingrich may not be the perfect man, but no one is. There is no perfect person in the world; heck Palin isn’t perfect either. A President Gingrich might and probably will screw up more than once, and so will any other president (yes, including a president Palin). The objective is to weigh and measure out of all the candidates which kind of screw ups you are willing to accept and out of all the candidates in the field, I would rather risk Gingrich’s potential screw ups than anyone else’s. In addition, when weighing the pros and cons, Gingrich’s pros outnumber his cons by far.

Palin supporters claim, and I’ll confess that until recently I was in that camp too, that Palin is the only one that could beat Obama. But we seem to forget that supporters of other candidates say the same about their candidate. Most supporters of other candidates believe that Palin would be the least electable just as we think that they are un-electable. It’s an argument we will never be able to prove right or wrong.

People tell me that Newt is un-electable, or that he doesn’t have the money to pull it off. Just wait for when he gets up to debate Obama, it wont be Newt who is un-electable. But that aside, if you think he’s un-electable, make him electable, work for him, volunteer for him, go out and get people to vote for him. You’ll see how electable he his. By most estimates and polls, Palin is un-electable too but yet people were willing to give it their all to make her electable. If we could do it for Palin, we can do it for Gingrich. And if you think he doesn’t have the money, donate to his campaign, help him get his message out and when people hear it, they will be willing to donate. If he gains momentum, the money will start pouring in. In other words, if you think you can accept Gingrich for President, quit the whining and get working.

Some supporters of those not in the race say that they will still vote for their preferred candidate as a write in. Cute, very cute, but what good would that do? Anyone of the current candidates in the field would do a better job than Obama but by writing in a candidate that is not even in the race, all they are doing is just cutting of their nose to spite their face by handing the election to Obama or Obama light. Is that what they really want?

Whether I go all in for Gingrich the same way I went in for Palin is something I still need to consider. It comes down to me being convinced that he is really in it to win it and that he’ll give it his all. For now, I’m still of the mindset that he’s just in it to be part of the debate. I hope he’ll convince me that am wrong. But until then, I’ll do my part to make sure that when I wake up on November 7th 2012, Newt Gingrich is our new elected president and when that happens, I for one will feel secure, will breathe a sigh of relief, and will be truly hopeful that America will rise again and a brighter future awaits the world.

UPDATE: Josh Painter has a good post here