Have conservatives finally stopped looking for the Romney alternative?

“I’m convinced that the principles of opportunity and freedom and the protection of life were not temporary but are permanent,” he said Wednesday, campaigning in South Carolina, according to Associated Press. On Thursday, he repeated “life” twice when reciting the Declaration of Independence, AP reported. 

Attacks against Romney’s record at Bain Capital have also come on strong in recent days. But that’s actually led some conservatives, worried that such attacks could be leverage for Democrats in November – to speak in his defense.

Romney has also racked up endorsements from people who are popular among conservatives. His campaign announced Thursday the support of John Bolton, an ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush.

South Carolina Speaker Pro Tempore Jay Lucas also touted Romney as “the kind of strong conservative leader our country needs right now,” according to a Romney press release Thursday.

And on Wednesday, Romney won the endorsement of the co-author of the Arizona and Alabama laws cracking down on illegal immigration, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

“You’re starting to see a lot of, not just party establishment figures but conservative establishment figures, starting to line up behind him, and that will help him make that case that he is conservative enough, if not ideally so,” says Chris Galdieri, an elections expert at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.

While some conservative commentators worry that Romney won’t generate enough enthusiasm as a nominee, Romney would benefit from a changed landscape since 2008, when John McCain couldn’t turn out enough votes to beat Barack Obama, says Professor Sabato. Mr. Obama was an “icon” in 2008, he notes, but if Romney is the nominee, he’ll be running in a year when anti-Obama sentiment will “generate the Republican enthusiasm that maybe Romney cannot.”

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Watch this video of Mitt Romney campaigning in New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday's primary election:

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