Romney’s Prospects Force Republicans to Choose

By Julie Hirschfeld Davis
Bloomberg
Nov 11, 2011

Growing numbers of Republican conservatives now see Mitt Romney as most likely to win their party’s presidential nomination -- and that is forcing them to make a choice.

They can resist the former Massachusetts governor’s primary candidacy at all costs. Or they can back him and use that leverage to pressure him to hew to the party’s agenda, including opposition to abortion rights, gay marriage, a hard line on illegal immigration and skepticism toward global warming.

“We’re at the 11th hour of this process, and there are really one of two ways to go,” said Al Cardenas, chairman of the anti-tax, anti-government-spending American Conservative Union in Alexandria, Virginia, and former head of Florida’s Republican Party.

The options being debated, he said, are, “either to have a movement conversation with Mitt Romney and reach a level of comfort, and move forward with the concept of the inevitable nomination of Mitt Romney,” or “to finally put all of its weight behind one other candidate.”

(More here.)