New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said no, so who will now be the Republican Party’s savior in the presidential election in 2012?

The attempts to persuade Christie to run point to a large degree of desperation among the Republican voters, which, in turn, springs from a deep despair that any of the current eight candidates could beat President Obama next year. This despair can be seen in the many recent polls, with large swings with each new measurement – up and down.

Right now, it’s like this:

Romney remains steadily but uninspiringly in the front group; Perry, until recently the new star, has lost a lot of support; Bachmann, who still hopes on Iowa, has lost even more of Perry; Paul has his solid support among libertarians, but little else; Gingrich, the old Fox, looks a little brighter to the future; Santorum and Huntsman are still last.

Remains: pizza magnate Herman Cain, the field’s only Black candidate, the non-politician, who has suddenly rushed to the lead. Cain – the new savior. His success stems from the growing support among the party’s right wing, the most conservative voters, according to Public Policy Polling.

“This most conservative group of Republican voters has been shopping for a candidate all year. They’ve gone from Huckabee to Trump back to Huckabee to Bachmann to Perry and now to Cain. I would expect their support for Cain to be pretty temporary. One thing that’s been very clear through all these twists and turns though — they’re not going to support Romney.”

I don’t think that the savior of the moment – Herman Cain – stands a chance in the long run. But the anti-Romney sentiments remain strong among Republican voters, and that does not bode well for Romney ahead of the primary elections, where the most conservative are also the most active and largely control the election process.

John Dickerson in Slate:

“There is an unresolved feeling about Romney. He is atop the polls again, but three-quarters of the voters say they want someone else. Even the majority of his supporters say that they could still change their mind.”

The hunt for the Republican savior continues, but there are not many names left. Only Sarah Palin, and I want to say again that I don’t think she will run. It now seems the Republican voters don’t want Palin to run, judging by the latest Washington Post/ABC poll, where 63 per cent say they do not want her to be a candidate.

So, in the end, the Republican voters will have to settle for the eight candidates they now have. It is among them that they will have to find their savior.