(The Federalist) — If you peruse Twitter or the headlines at conservative media outlets, there’s a lot of disappointment, sadness and even anger about Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush running for president in 2016. Whatever their merits, neither candidate articulates a particularly winning conservative message on government spending, foreign policy, immigration, entitlement programs or much of anything else that in any way matches the mood of grassroots conservatives who have had it up to here with establishment Republican candidates and their ineffectual ways.
So why should conservatives be elated? Well, just the fact that they’re both running shows that the typical GOP primary story has been upended. This year everything is different. And it means that more principled candidates might finally have an opening.
The typical GOP primary story is that the establishment is very good at getting unified behind one candidate. Early. The conservatives, on the other hand, are something of a motley crew that scrambles and fights in a long, drawn-out, protracted battle. Many discussions are had but very little securing-the-nomination takes place. The establishment is very good at winning. They basically don’t lose.
