In a perfect world, the ideal conservative candidate would have John McCain's experience, Mitt Romney's money (and good looks), Mike Huckabee's religious background and Ron Paul's resolve.

Of course, this is not a perfect world and, unfortunately, that candidate doesn't exist.

Voters participating in today's Super Tuesday primary election must decide which Republican candidate is the closest to being that candidate, and perhaps equally as important, which candidate can beat the Democratic nominee in November.

That candidate is John McCain.

There is a growing opposition to McCain among some conservatives, and this worries me. On the other hand, there are many conservatives who believe that if McCain had been elected eight years ago, America would not be facing many of the problems it has today.

McCain should be the choice for conservatives for both ideological and pragmatic reasons.

Besides being aligned with conservatives on every major wedge issue, McCain's most important attribute is consistency. Unlike Romney's ever-changing belief-system, McCain's conservative credentials have never wavered and his record backs it up.

In the last week, Romney has started to bad-mouth the McCain-Feingold legislation (which implemented the first campaign finance reform in decades), the failed McCain-Leiberman legislation (which would have investigated and addressed the issue of global warming) and the recent McCain-Kennedy bill (which calls for tighter border security and increased enforcement of existing immigration laws).

McCain is vulnerable on these issues, but only because he reached across the aisle -- something President Bush promised to do before he disbanded the "Armies of Compassion."

Romney has also attacked McCain for voting against the recent Bush "tax-cut" plan. McCain, who considers himself fiscally conservative, voted against the measure because he doesn't believe it is possible to purchase a better economy by putting money into tax-payers' bank accounts. It didn't work the first time President Bush tried it, and McCain doubts it will work now.

There are also pragmatic reasons voters should choose McCain.

Because of his willingness to reach across the aisle in an effort to move government forward, McCain has received broad support from independents and crossover Democrats across the nation. Although they pride themselves on being unable to do this, I can guarantee both Huckabee and Romney (especially Romney) would be singing a different tune in November when support from those factions is critical.

I'm the first to admit McCain isn't the perfect conservative candidate, but he is certainly a better choice than Huckabee or Romney.