• Herman Cain
  
• Michele Bachmann
  
• Jon Huntsman
  
• Rick Perry
  
• Rick Santorum
  
• Newt Gingrich

But every single one of them was essentially forced out by national and state Republican Party leadership, who are damn near altogether uninterested in any nominee other than the one who has bought and paid for his turn at the nomination.  (Mittens outspent his rivals by at least 5-to-1, and in one instance by as much as 20-to-1.)

Yes, I just said it:  On the assumption that Mitt Romney heads up the ticket, the 2012 republican POTUS nomination was bought and paid for, with the RNC being the entirely-too-willing peddlers.  I won't speak for anyone else, but I'll be focusing my efforts on the downticket stuff.