Welcome to the “put up or shut up” phase of the 2010 election year.

For years, we conservatives have experienced a steady dose of buyer’s remorse with seemingly every Republican elected to represent us. Frustration and anger with the Obama/Pelosi/Reid three-headed bureaucratic monster but the seeds of crankiness were sown by a Republican Congress that spent money like a Kennedy kid on Spring Break.

We now face a unique set of circumstances leading into the fall elections and have a pretty clear choice in front of us: do we keep running candidates through the GOP mill and hope they don’t sell us out or do we go all-in for candidates who embody true conservative principles?

The reality is that several squishy (no backbone), moderate Republican candidates have already made it through their primaries and may be disappointing you in Washington in the near future. Why? Simple-the money is still flowing in the wrong direction.

While the Tea Parties have helped divert a lot of the cash flow away from the RNC and its ugly offspring, the NRSC and NRCC, several prominent PACs and other Beltway groups can still be game-changers for a candidate. They still cling to the old model of preferring to back someone they think can win rather than someone they think should win. It’s a thoroughly flawed way of helping candidates that may very well blow this opportunity we have and truly push the Republican party and, yes, all conservatives over the cliff that we were at the edge of in 2008.

Very few of these prominent national figures and organizations can be trusted to do the right thing right now. One only has to look at Sarah Palin’s clinically insane endorsement of Carly Fiorina over Chuck DeVore to see that no one at the top really gets it. The endorsement was a game-changer and it was all done in the name of electability. At the time, Devore’s polling numbers against Barbara Boxer for the general election were almost the same as Fiorina’s. He wasn’t polling as well against Tom Campbell in the primary but those paying attention knew that Campbell’s campaign was about to go belly up. Palin could have given DeVore the kind of fund raising push and recognition he needed to get through the primary and hammer Boxer in the general (trust me-he would destroy her in a debate).

There is now a great opportunity for those of us who truly want conservatives representing us in AZ-03. Pamela Gorman is running in a ten person primary against opponents who include a carpetbagger, a chronic liar and a liberal. She has a legislative record that any conservative can endorse. While Senate Majority Whip in Arizona, she fought her own party and Governor Jan Brewer on a tax increase that the Republicans were trying to shove down their constituents’ throats. It takes an extraordinary amount of backbone to be the party whip and tell the rest of the leadership off. It is also the kind of spine that’s been lacking in GOP leadership for far too long.

Pamela also co-sponsored a little bill known as SB-1070. It’s been in the news a couple of times lately. So we know where she stands on that mess.

If a serious conservative built a candidate from the ground up Pamela Gorman would inevitably be the end result.

Since she’s in a ten person race, Pamela doesn’t need a zillion votes to emerge victorious. And once through to the general, she’ll almost certainly win because it’s a good Republican district. So we’re looking at a vote that will actually be in Congress next year. Do you want a real conservative or a slightly modified version of Olympia Snowe?

I’ve also had the good fortune of getting to know Pamela during the past couple of months. She’s running because she wants to serve, not because she desperately needs elective office for ego gratification. She’s not married to politics and that in itself is a great reason to back a candidate.

This is not the time to start up the third party talk. It’s time to help true conservatives who are running to get the GOP back on track. The greatest thing about social media is that we can get to know candidates from around the country and help them even if we’ll never go near their districts.

My good friends at FTRRadio.com have declared today Pamela Gorman Day in an effort to help raise awareness and money for the campaign.

Any money is good for a campaign. One of the genius moves of the Obama campaign in 2008 was that it kept asking regular people for five or ten bucks. Over and over. Even in a bad economy, people can find five dollars for a good cause. The RNC still sends me snail mail that says “Even $100 will help.” Because they’ll never get it.

You don’t need to be a big money donor. Ten bucks from a thousand people spends just the same as a $10,000 check from a snotty fund raising dinner. And you don’t even have to shower to donate online.

Here is the link to Pamela Gorman’s donation page. Thanks in advance for stepping up and helping a most deserving conservative.