The Republican Party ... will it unite?

After yesterday's withdrawal from the Republican presidential race by Mitt Romney, John McCain is now the clear front-runner to receive the nomination. GOP leadership is already closing in around him as exhibited by his introduction at the CPAC convention by former Virginia Governor George Allen.

What a difference eight years makes. I was on board with George W. Bush starting in the fall of 1999 collecting signatures on petitions to get his name on the Virginia primary ballot. I never wavered in my support, loyalty, and willingness to work as many hours as it took to get him elected and then, in 2004, reelected as President. I believed in the man and reaped that rare opportunity to start with a candidate and ride with him all the way to the Presidency.

This election cycle I took a long time to decide on a candidate. There were qualities in all that I admired and would like to have been able to roll into one. I did not sign on for anyone until January 2008 when watching Fred Thompson's performance in debates convinced me he was the man who could do the job. Three weeks later he dropped out.

I had been impressed with Mitt Romney in September 2007 when I heard him speak at the "Defending the American Dream" AFP convention in Washington, DC, so I turned my attention to him. (John McCain had not attended the main event but had, instead, addressed a group in the senate office building, an event that many missed, so I was not able to hear him speak.)

Watching the debates and researching the candidates, Mitt Romney clearly came through as a leader I could get behind ... and so I actively supported him for the past two weeks ... and then he left the race yesterday.

I am now left to support John McCain. I will support John McCain if he becomes the Party's nominee, and I hope he will pay more attention to the conservative side of his own Party and less to the Democrats who seem to have such a hold on him.

However ... I now think it will be a contest between John McCain and Barack Obama. My gut is telling me Obama will win.

When a Democrat wins the oval office, history has shown Virginians generally vote for a Republican in the gubernatorial race. The GOP may take the governorship in 2009.

These political cycles are as old as politics ... voters tire of the same Party in power ... the Party in power seems to forget the voter who put them in place ... and the pendulum swings back.

These days it is unsettled on both sides of the aisle as allegiances are broken, new allegiances are forged, and those who seek only power flock to those they perceive as having that power.

Good comes out of these political dust-ups in that when the dust settles and you see who has ridden through the storm with you, those are your true friends and trusted allies.