Iowa Carcases?

Only 2 days to go until the Iowa caucuses, and the polls show Romney narrowly leading. The other 2 with significant ground presence & organization, Ron Paul and Santorum, have risen somewhat at Gingrich's expense, showing a moderate "flavor-of-the-month" bump. Gingrich did indeed peak and have a precipitous fall, as it was starting to look like two weeks ago. His baggage is showing. I can't imagine extremist Ron Paul rising much more, but we'll see how big Santorum's bump is. Bachman seems to be down in the noise, even in her "home" territory.

Yesterday (Saturday) I placed a couple dozen calls for the Romney campaign -- to Iowa. In my small sample, two-thirds of those who answered said they were for Romney, and the rest were undecided (one leaning towards Ron Paul), and the Romney supporters were definitely going to participate in the caucuses. So we'll see after Tuesday who the Iowa "carcases" are -- the field may start to narrow, and we'll see who their support goes to. Again, it could be a protracted primary battle.

But Romney's doing better in Iowa than previously expected, and is way ahead in New Hampshire. My sense is that after looking beyond the mark (Romney) for whatever superficial prejudicial reasons, and seeing the others come up short, one by one, Republicans are realizing he's the most substantial, presidential & electable -- as a much higher percentage admit in the polls. They may not like his personality or religion, and he might not be Tea Party pure, but he can do the job at hand -- beat Obama & tackle the troubled economy, including demonstrated ability to work effectively with an opposition legislature (if need be).

It's incomprehensible to me how some talking heads in the media seem to be attacking(often in cowardly fashion without naming names) the "Washington insider/ establishment candidate" (i.e., Romney). Every other candidate running (at least the Tea Party or evangelical favorites) have been or are Washington insiders in Congress. It's Romney (& Huntsman & Perry) that are not, and that have demonstrated executive (gubernatorial, & Romney business, Olympic & religious) ability -- Romney with the least political experience (and most business experience) of the lot. And his endorsements have come from Tea Party favorites like Christie, Pawlenty, Nikki Halley, etc., as well as "establishment" types -- a broader base that bodes better for the general election. How soon people forget the loud groans and "No's!" at CPAC 4 years ago when he graciously, for the good of the party, dropped out of the race -- the most conservative & least moderate candidate.