mFormer Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney earned an endorsement that should be important to conservatives today, that of Senator Jim DeMint. Senator DeMint has been at the forefront of the battle to reign in the secretive and abusive earmarking procedures, and to reign in wasteful spending in general.

DeMint:

We must come together and rally behind the real consensus conservative in this race. We must support the one candidate who can unite Republicans around the core principles that will build a better America. We must work as one to finally fix what is fundamentally broken in Washington. We must stand up…right now…at this moment as conservatives united unabashedly for Mitt Romney.

What I find particularly interesting about the endorsement is that Senator DeMint has adopted earmark reform as one of his pet issues, and Senator John McCain has a pretty good conservative record on the issue.

I was for Rudy Giuliani until he dropped out, and then Mitt Romney became my de facto first choice, even though I don’t like him and I do not trust him at this point. I found Rudy’s endorsement of Senator McCain somewhat disappointing, because I think Rudy is way more conservative and much better than McCain. However, I will not say that his endorsement has not caused me to rethink my judgment of McCain.

I worry that McCain could be beaten by Billary on economic grounds, while I am optimistic about Romney’s chances of convincing the public at large that he knows what needs to be done for the economy’s health.

Many on the right put the Global War on Terror at the top of their concerns, and find McCain’s military strength appealing. However, this demographic can’t be more than 45% of the likely voters.

Additionally, I think Senator McCain would probably perform better in debates with Billary.

Either one of these guys can pull it off. However, I think Romney is a little bit more certain of a win in the general election.

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