The latest Newsweek devotes two pages to conservatives it labels “The Right’s Dead-Enders,” those who have a less-than-enthusiastic response to Mitt Romney‘s presidential candidacy.

The wilderness can indeed be an appealing place, since it is more popular to be on offense (against socialists and scoundrels) than to defend an uninspiring standard-bearer. But now many of the right’s leading voices are struggling with this question: are they about promoting a political party or perpetuating their own success?

Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative bible National Review, doesn’t hold back when it comes to Romney: “Anything he does, there’s an automatic assumption that it’s the synthetic product of calculation. There’s something lacking at the core.” As the alternatives have faded, Lowry is trying to make peace with the idea of Romney as nominee: “If I have to manufacture enthusiasm, I’ll happily do so.” Yet in the next breath, he frames the choice as “a flawed candidate running against a very flawed president.”

Another conspicuous holdout is Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard. “His campaign can be off-putting, the presumption that if you’re not with him, there’s something wrong with you,” Kristol says. “You can’t have it both ways, saying, ‘I haven’t been part of Washington’ and then, ‘Gee, I wonder why all those Washington guys don’t have more of an attachment to me.’?”

For his part, Romney hasn’t courted the Beltway loudmouths and avoids the Sunday talk circuit. “This isn’t a green-room campaign,” says Stuart Stevens, Romney’s top strategist. “There’s a strength to being outside of Washington and not part of that culture. It just helps you focus on running your own campaign and not trying to please everyone.”