This is the era of the Paranoid Candidate.

Mike Huckabee suggests the reason Sean Hannity isn’t backing him is because of some sinister influence of Romney’s old private equity firm, Bain Capital over some of the stations that carry the radio talk-show host. I completely concur with Mark Levin on this, and just want to add a point: When most candidates lose an endorsement they would have liked, they let out an “aw, shucks,” or worse, and then perhaps murmur a bit about sour grapes or how it wasn’t that big a deal, and move on.

Of course, it had to be sinister corporations, right, governor? It couldn’t be because your appeal beyond evanglical Christians has been 14 percent (Iowa), 6 percent (New Hampshire) 8 percent (Michigan) 14 percent (South Carolina), 3 percent (Nevada) and 4 percent (Florida).

Nope. Ask a Ron Paul supporter why their man’s getting single digits, many will tell you, it’s because the media isn’t covering him fairly. Ask a Romney supporter why his man is trailing, and you might hear about anti-Mormon bigotry, or in the case of the National Right to Life Committee’s endorsement of Thompson, you get on-the-record speculation/accusations that “money” is behind it. You would think the McCain camp would be happy where they are, but they didn’t hesitate to bring up Romney’s past donations to National Review in the past when the magazine’s senior editors endorsed him. Some Fred Thompson folks blame the “he’s-quitting” rumors and Politico report from costing them a good finish in Iowa, creating a cascading effect of disappointment.

I haven’t heard it from a Giuliani supporter, but it’s easy to imagine his folks lamenting the injustice that none of the early Republican primary states were his kind of territory. What big-city, northeastern mayor could possibly compete in Iowa, rural New Hampshire or South Carolina? How’s a guy like him supposed to get votes in Michigan, where the idea of “city life” is tied to the mess that is Detroit?

In each one of these defeats and endorsements ungarnered, the finger is pointed outward, often to the shadows. It’s not that the other guy was any better, it’s that he cheated! Only nefarious skullduggery and sinister chicanery could possibly explain my guy coming in any place but first!

Rarely if ever do we hear, “Well, my guy just wasn’t good enough. The electorate just wasn’t receptive to his message, and he made a lot of mistakes that hurt his chances.”