John McCain has been on a roll as of late and that has continued tonight with his win in Florida. While it looked like a tight battle in the beginning, McCain edged Romney to win with 36% to Romney's 31% (as of 10:39PM). If I was going to write a headline for this win tonight it would be: "Missing: The Conservative Vote." It is very clear that tonight the conservative vote did no speak for it's self. Any so called "conservative" vote for McCain is nothing more than a mislead one. No conservative that understands McCain's past would vote for him. It's very clear that this is a man that will lampoon the conservative movement for the sake of "diplomacy."
Things will only get worse, reports are saying that Rudy will drop out and endorse McCain. The nomination is the same effect as popular Democrats endorsing Obama over Hillary. He is not endorsing the person he feels is best for office. He is voting for the one man that can beat Romney. Romney is the only man in the race that resembles a conservative. The rest of the candidates resemble Democrats more than they do Republicans. You have Huckster the tax man and McCain the we-think-he's-republican Republican. There's no winning with these two, I can't say that enough. If McCain wins the nomination you can count me out this election (perhaps). Conservatism must come first. Only then does my loyalty to the Republican party matter.
We can't lose sight of what matters: our values. According to exit polls, Romney won 4 out of 10 conservatives. McCain won the same with moderates, 4 out of 10 (source). While it's clear that the moderate voice is powering the McCain train I have to wonder where the conservative voice is. It's clear enough to me that McCain is no conservative, no matter what he "pledges." Your past speaks louder than any pledge you can make so you can't flatter me into voting for you Mr. McCain. If we had more conservatives in the race I could understand why some would vote for one and some for the other. With McCain and Huckabee, it's confusing to me how any conservative could be confused about who to vote for. I shouldn't have to explain that amnesty is not a conservative stance. Then again we are talking about this new "conservatism" and not the Reagan kind of conservatism.
While I was right about Rudy dropping out I didn't think that he would endorse McCain. Even with the momentum McCain will receive from this win I don't expect Tuesday to be a walk in the park. Florida is a good example of what can happen but it's not what will happen. McCain won it big because of the recent endorsement from Gov. Charlie Crist and I don't see that kind of affect for Tuesday. According to exit polls 4 in 10 said that the endorsement was important in making their decision. That is huge, without that I think things would have been the opposite of what we have seen tonight. Whatever the case, the race is still in full motion and far from finished. The only thing that we can say for sure is that it will be either McCain or Romney claiming victory.