The election has ended and the sun has set. Today, the sun once again rose as it will continue to do under an Obama Presidency. Today, as the smoke clears and we contemplate why we lost and why they won, let’s not get drastic.

I’ve already heard conservatives say that they want to move out of the country or that they want to leave the Republican Party. Please reconsider. If a marriage is broken, we don’t just leave it, we try to fix it. The same should be true of our country. If we don’t like the way things are going, we work to fix it; we don’t abandon it. America has been good to us and we owe it to her to stick this out and preserve her.

On the notion of leaving the Republican Party, some may think this sounds strange coming from me. After all, I’ve been one who refused to join Republican clubs, or affiliate myself with the party because so many politicians have ruined it. But I’ve awakened to a concept that I didn’t get for a while. It’s not those of us who belong to the party that have brought it down. It’s the politicians that the voters have just rejected that have put this black mark on a once great political party. But it is us who will bring this party from the ashes and make it great again. This is our time to start over.

This is our time to rebuild the Republican Party with the values and policies that WE believe in. This is our time to rise up leaders within this party like Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, and Eric Cantor among others, who espouse conservative values. They are the future of this party’s leadership. We are the future of this party’s base.

Instead of lying down and accepting defeat, we must use this opportunity to start over. We can use the fact that America rejected the same-old, same-old politicians of this party to our advantage. We can use this as our mandate to rebuild a party that will be grounded in true conservative values and actions.

Do not take this as defeat. Take this as redirection. Right-face and march on.

-Matthew J. Cochran writing

Pawlenty is a no-go.  Jindal, no-go.  A lot of other names, like Portman or especially Romney, are driven by staff and consultants - not by Senator McCain. Lest we forget: it’s his opinion that matters.

Mitt Romney’s qualifications place him in the hopper for Treasury Secretary, far more so than as potential Veep.  Does anyone honestly believe that John McCain is going to willingly anoint Mitt Romney as his successor? As his potential #2? As leader of the GOP?  As the party’s presumptive nominee in 2012 or 2016?  Team Romney is persistent, if nothing else.

Sure, McCain may pick Romney - but that would be seen as a panic-driven, pandering choice to the donor class and staffers looking to pull $10,000 a month.  If you think that sounds crazy, look at the Romney expenditure reports.

McCain’s ‘maverick’ streak may lead him to pull in someone scandal-free but with access to their own national network to augment his own.  The elephant missing in the GOP primary was George Allen, who famously macaca-d himself out of re-election & a presidential bid.  However, dark horse Virginian Eric Cantor could easily tap into the network Allen was building from 1993-2006.  Allen had strong ties into Orange County, CA money that fell to Romney by default.  Not just conservative cash - but Bush Pioneers that have yet to pony up. Think “movement” + Pioneers + New Majority + Lincoln Club.

In previous cycles, the GOP nominee raised one in four dollars in California.  McCain has Schwarzenegger and his fundraising machine, but in a donor state like CA - there is more than one set of Top Tier folks in the ‘underwriter’ class.  By underwriter, I mean Billionaires that routinely Co-Chair inaugural committees and Host Committees.  These are folks who don’t talk to staff, because they don’t have to.  Billionaires do not need the permission of even the most ‘Senior Adviser’ to chat with a potential president.  And the Senator may not report back every detail to staff.  Having watched some of those folks in action, my own instinct tells me that until Senator McCain makes it official -nothing can be counted on.

If McCain chooses someone like Cantor - it please multiple classes of politicos.  Top flight donors, potential Cabinet members, and national-grade consultants who have earned their way to the top as presidential campaign advisers. Cantor has a stable of folks around him, both current and former consultants he remains close to, that could make a McCain-Cantor ticket very formidable.

And that’s just the metrics.  Cantor is in his 40s, attractive, great wife, wonderful kids.  He’s a prolific fundraiser for his colleagues in the House.  He has earned his spot on the national stage - and the chances of being Speaker aren’t so hot right now.

It would be a bold move - and McCain needs to make one.  McCain-Cantor, gosh - it even sounds good.

 —Media Lizzy