I'm sure this question must have been asked somewhere by now. Shoot, I probably read it myself and forgot that I read it. But if McCain has effectively won the Republican nomination, and he doesn't (yet?) have the support of conservatives, what does this say about the role of conservatism in the Republican Party?

First off, where were the conservative candidates for President? I maintain that Huckabee and Romney have been no more conservative than McCain. In fact, I consider Romney to be even less conservative, along the lines of Giuliani. I consider Thompson to be conservative, and would have like to see him as the Republican nominee, but he never caught fire among Republicans, and his leisurely approach to campaigning isn't entirely at fault here. Ron Paul is running a clearly Libertarian campaign.

So, how influential are conservatives within the Republican Party? To me, it's starting to look like the answer to that question is "Not very."