Who will the Republican candidates endorse, if/when they drop out?

[I Am Feeblepizza.]

Perry: Romney
Romney: Perry
Paul: Johnson
Bachmann: Perry
Cain: Perry
Gingrich: The nominee
Santorum: Perry
Huntsman: Romney
Johnson: Paul
Roemer: The nominee
McCotter: Romney
Karger: One of the libertarians

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Do you think Cain will for sure endorse Perry or do you think there is a reasonable chance he might endorse Romney?

I don't think Cain will go for a Northeast Moderate like Romney...more of a Southern Moderate like Perry.

In what universe is Perry at all 'moderate'?

[Bull Moose Base]

Do you think Cain will for sure endorse Perry or do you think there is a reasonable chance he might endorse Romney?

I think Cain will endorse Romney.  It's one of the few that might mean anything in that it'd be someone with some Tea Party cred endorsing over Romney.  Bachmann or Palin would be bigger but I'd be surprised if they endorsed Romney.  No one will care who Gingrich, Santorum, Hunstman etc. endorse.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Romney: Won't endorse till the convention
Perry : Romney
Paul: Johnson or Bachamann
Bachamann: Paul, Cain, or Gingrich
Cain: Paul or Bachamann
Gingrich: Santorum
Santorum: Gingrich or Cain
Huntsman: Paul
Johnson: Paul

The other three are irrelevant

[Zarn]

Romney: Perry or Paul (whoever is winning the primaries)
Perry : Won't drop out
Paul: Won't drop out
Bachmann: Romney or Paul
Cain: Paul or Perry
Gingrich: Romney
Santorum: Perry
Huntsman: Paul or Romney
Johnson: Paul
Roemer: ?
McCotter: ?
Karger: ?

[Torie]

Romney: Perry or Paul (whoever is winning the primaries)
Perry : Won't drop out
Paul: Won't drop out
Bachmann: Romney or Paul
Cain: Paul or Perry
Gingrich: Romney
Santorum: Perry
Huntsman: Paul or Romney
Johnson: Paul
Roemer: ?
McCotter: ?
Karger: ?

I suspect all, yes all, of the drop outs will support Romney, who isn't going to drop out, because he is going to get the silver, and sooner rather than later. (I listened to a quite pathetic speech by Perry by the way to a crowd at Liberty "University": man he sucks!). Paul of course isn't going to drop out. Perry is not respected by his opponents - none of them. Well I don't know about Johnson. Who could?  Roemer and Karger? LOL.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Santorum is more of an establishment type fellow himself. I doubt he'd endorse Perry either. Perry's path to victory is through the tea party and far right wing, not with the establishment or anyone else.

[tmthforu94]

Tonight's last question could potentially change a couple answers for some people...

No surprise on Johnson's Paul pick. Gingrich seemed to be a popular choice. I think their choice gives you some indication of who they'd endorse, and Cain mentioning Romney leads me to believe if the race does come down eventually to Romney and Perry, which I think it will, Cain will come into the Romney camp and perhaps vie for the VP slot.

[California8429]

Tonight's last question could potentially change a couple answers for some people...

No surprise on Johnson's Paul pick. Gingrich seemed to be a popular choice. I think their choice gives you some indication of who they'd endorse, and Cain mentioning Romney leads me to believe if the race does come down eventually to Romney and Perry, which I think it will, Cain will come into the Romney camp and perhaps vie for the VP slot.

I think after getting the answers tonight there are two drastic scenarios for endorsements. Gingrich vs Romney (vs Perry where no one endorses him really) or Romney vs Perry. Either of these two scenarios will produce drastically different results. Fun

[Averroës Nix]

Post-Debate Edition

Romney - the winner
Perry - "the strongest"

Paul - Suspends campaign when the winner locks the nomination; third-party run possible
Bachmann - Not Romney
Cain - Mitt Romney
Gingrich - Mitt Romney
Santorum - Mitt Romney
Huntsman - Mitt Romney
Johnson - Ron Paul
Roemer - Harold Stassen

McCotter - Mitt Romney
Pawlenty - Mitt Romney

[Averroës Nix]

Tonight's last question could potentially change a couple answers for some people...

No surprise on Johnson's Paul pick. Gingrich seemed to be a popular choice. I think their choice gives you some indication of who they'd endorse, and Cain mentioning Romney leads me to believe if the race does come down eventually to Romney and Perry, which I think it will, Cain will come into the Romney camp and perhaps vie for the VP slot.

[emphasis added]

The mentions are probably more useful than the actual picks. I think that Gingrich was such a common pick because the other candidates don't take his candidacy seriously and aren't worried about their supporters switching to the Gingrich camp.

[Zarn]

Paul has ruled out a 3rd party run a million times over.

[Averroës Nix]

Paul has ruled out a 3rd party run a million times over.

As a candidate for the Republican nomination who is acting like he actually thinks that he could win, that wouldn't be something for him to advertise. I only think it's possible because he's not running for re-election in his Congressional district. If things get heated between him and the eventual nominee, I don't understand why he wouldn't seriously consider it.

[Zarn]

Paul has ruled out a 3rd party run a million times over.

As a candidate for the Republican nomination who is acting like he actually thinks that he could win, that wouldn't be something for him to advertise. I only think it's possible because he's not running for re-election in his Congressional district. If things get heated between him and the eventual nominee, I don't understand why he wouldn't seriously consider it.

States have sore loser laws. Also, Paul isn't going to lie. He is very straight forward.

[Averroës Nix]

Paul has ruled out a 3rd party run a million times over.

As a candidate for the Republican nomination who is acting like he actually thinks that he could win, that wouldn't be something for him to advertise. I only think it's possible because he's not running for re-election in his Congressional district. If things get heated between him and the eventual nominee, I don't understand why he wouldn't seriously consider it.

States have sore loser laws. Also, Paul isn't going to lie. He is very straight forward.

The most that I've heard him say is that he's "effectively" ruled it out because of the difficulties involved in getting ballot access - that sort of sounds definite, but it's not so definite that it would look like a lie in retrospect if he were to run. Besides, if we're taking Paul at face value, his position is that he's focused on winning the Republican nomination and not even thinking about what happens afterward - so it's easy to imagine that if Paul runs in the general, it's not something he's seriously thinking about yet.

Besides, most sore loser laws don't apply to Presidential candidates, and even in the four states in which they do, it's not clear that they couldn't be challenged in court. Jon Anderson managed ballot access in every state in '80, right? More recently, had Gravel been nominated by the Libertarians, he'd have done it too.