Don't Let the Media Pick Our Candidates

As everyone has heard by now, Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire straw poll.  Here are the results:

Mitt Romney:  35%

Ron Paul:  11%

Tim Pawlenty:  8%

Sarah Palin:  7%

Michelle Bachman:  5%

Jim Demint:  5%

While Romney is a respectable businessman, who did an OK job of running Massachusetts while governor, he is a Republican, not a Conservative.  It seems that year after year we allow the media to decide who our candidates will be long before the campaign even truly begins.  If you have been paying attention since President Obama was elected, Romney's name is often brought up by Democrats and the media (one and the same? . . .) as the last best hope to re-take the White House.

No one seems to think for a moment about the fact Romney is extremely unpopular in many areas of the country.  His religion is a sticking point for many (regardless if whether it should be or not).  For many including me, he is not conservative enough.  The media and the Democrat party are more than willing to support a weak candidate for president on our side if it means an easy victory for their side in November 2012.

We as a country need to stop putting so much stock into tiny states like New Hampshire to decide the fate of the country.  As we have seen in the most recent census, populations shift over time, and with it shifts ideologies.  Maybe it's time we re-examine our methods of choosing a candidate and let states that hold a more relevant viewpoint and more conservative beliefs play a bigger part of the process.