The possibility that the Republican primary electorate isn't so conservative

[Jacobtm]

''Everyone knows'' that the Republican Primary Electorate is Very Conservative. Candidates tack to the right, deny any charges of moderation, Mitt Romney calls himself a ''severe conservative'', to try to get these conservative purists to vote for him.

Despite Mitt's recent tacking to the right, in polls he is still perceived as much more moderate than Santorum. Santorum clearly is more conservative in the mind of voters.

Yet Romney continues to win.

Let's not forget, McCain won in '08, against the protests of the whole conservative establishment.

Bush won in 2000, and his campaign was anything but extremely conservative. He played up his ''compassionate conservative'' theme, thinking obviously that most people viewed plain ''conservatives'' as too harsh.

Is it possible that the loudest, most conservative groups are really tearing the Republican party apart? Creating an impression among the media and politicians that all Republicans want is some extreme pure conservative, and causing candidates to pursue that tack, even though the evidence of who has won the nomination doesn't really support the idea that Republicans prefer the purist most conservative people.

This duality is apparent every time you hear Santorum speak. He simply doesn't believe Republicans want to elect Romney. He is more conservative, so he ''knows'' that Republicans, in their heart of hearts, want to elect him. Yet he will not win. Santorum cannot even imagine that in all honesty Republicans prefer a ''Massachusetts Moderate'' to a ''Real Conservative''. But obviously, voters do prefer Romney to Santorum.

It'd be remarkable if despite Rush, Fox News and all that, that Republicans still really do want a moderate of sorts.