Mitt Romney picks up a needed endorsement from National Review. With Huckabee nipping at his heels and threatening to derail his early primary strategy, this endorsement carries a lot of weight with those in the conservative movement. Hint: George W. Bush is not a conservative. The crux of National Review's argument can be founded in the following passage;

"Uniting the conservative coalition is not enough to win a presidential election, but it is a prerequisite for building on that coalition. Rudolph Giuliani did extraordinary work as mayor of New York and was inspirational on 9/11. But he and Mike Huckabee would pull apart the coalition from opposite ends: Giuliani alienating the social conservatives, and Huckabee the economic (and foreign-policy) conservatives. A Republican party that abandoned either limited government or moral standards would be much diminished in the service it could give the country."

NR thinks that Fred and McCain are solid conservatives but that Romney's executive skill exudes,"competence", which is much needed following the debacles that were Katrina, Harriet Meyers, and the Department of Justice during the Bush Administration. I agree with Lee at A Bama Blog on the reason Fred failed to earn National Review's endorsement despite being the most "consistent conservative." I think Fred or McCain have both made their case for V.P. I think a Southerner with foreign policy experience on the ticket would help a Northeastern governor in the general election.

Ag Commissioner Ron Sparks signs his Alabama political death warrant. Sparks has joined the Hillary Clinton as Co-Chair of Rural Americans for Hillary. Rumors flew last year about a possible Sparks run against Jeff Sessions for Senate in 2008. A lot of people have been headed to HRC's camp lately (The Alabama Democratic Conference, the black wing of the state Democratic Party, endorsed New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in October), but how popular is she in Alabama?

• Pollster has her losing to 4 of the top 5 Republicans in the general election.
• Rasmussen & Fox Television Stations Inc have her being defeated by McCain, Rudy, and Fred. She ties with Romney. Coincidentally, two-term Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, would handily defeat Democratic candidate Vivian Sessions 62 to 30 percent, the report said. Sessions would receive 90 percent of the Republican vote and more than a fifth of Democratic voters.
• Clinton has a very favorable rating of 27%, somewhat favorable 18%, somewhat unfavorable 11%, very unfavorable 41% and 3% are undecided in Alabama.

Notice the difference in the very favorable and very unfavorable ratings. I read once where James Carville would not work for a candidate if there was more than a 15 pt spread between the two. HRC is right at 14% in Alabama. These were the newest polls I could find. Survey USA reflects the same results as the above polls.

Reason #378 I hope the Democratic nominee is Hillary

• According to the latest RCP Averages Fred, Giuliani, and McCain are all within 7, 4, and 5 points respectively, of the Democratic front runner.
• If you compare Romney vs. Clinton, the RCP Average puts Clinton ahead by 11 points. Just something to think about.
• If you look at Fred, Rudy, and McCain vs. Edwards and Obama they are competitive and sometimes come out on town as is the case of Rudy vs. the Breck girl (Edwards).

Just something to think about when considering the "electability" aspect of each candidate. Right now, a vote for Mitt is a vote for GOP suicide. Kinda like Bob Dole in 1996. Dole is a war hero, a great man and legislator who waited his turn but looking back there is no way he could compete again Bill Clinton.