Sauron vs. Saruman

[Lord Elrond]

I would have to disagree, Sauruman was ensnared by Sauron albeit indirectly but it was because of Sauron and his ring that he turned evil. without the ring sauron would have no real desire to be evil in fact you could almost say without sauron and the ring there would be very little evil left. Also it is clearly illustrated that Gandalf had the power to beat Sauruman after Sauruman's forces were defeated. If as you stated he waited till after the ring was destroyed he would have had a harder time in my opinion. He might have been able to increase his army size(although not anywhere as near as big as Saurons) but he would have then had Gondor as well as Rohan to deal with. Yes they both suffered great losses but they now had no threat to the East or South (The Haradrim surrendered, retreated or made new alliances as did the Easterlings) Also new allies were made and the North Kingdom was back under control of the King. Aragorn also had a palantir and the men of Gondors strength and hope was reignited with the Return of their King. No I do not think Sauruman could have become more of a superpower if the ring was destroyed