This May Explain

Almost inexplicably the "not Romneys" just come and go.  Hopes for the more perfect conservative candidate propel the "not Romneys" upwards in the popularity polls only to see them sink away after we get to know them a little better.  We had Rick Perry and Herman Cain.  And after them Newt Gingrich made his remarkable and unlikely rise in voter esteem.  He's now history, which paved the way for Rick Santorum.  Like the rest who came before, Santorum enjoyed a brief moment of adulation which unsurprisingly did not ignite similar infatuation among voters in New Hampshire where Romney maintains a solid lead.

In the meantime, a Rasmussen poll of likely US voters says that Mitt Romney is the only Republican candidate who is likely to beat Obama.

While the Republican presidential hopefuls continue to fight it out on the campaign trail, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the only GOP contender that most voters view as having a chance against President Obama.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of Likely U.S. Voters think Romney is at least somewhat likely to beat the president in November.

I think this explains why Romney continues to maintain his consistent lead, in spite of a certain level of dissatisfaction with him.  It's a manifestation of Obama's unpopularity.  A large block of voters, myself included, believe the candidate most qualified among the current crop of Republicans is the one with the best chances of defeating Obama in the general election.  Romney wins among these voters, who will make up a large enough block to hand him the nomination.  

Meanwhile progressive wishful thinkers look to Romney's inability to attract more than 25% support in Iowa and claim that this shows him up as a weak candidate.  Looking on as the Occupy Wall Street protesters suck up all the media attention, progressives convince themselves that the Tea Party movement has lost its potency.  They underestimate voter unhappiness.

Democrats have created a phony crisis — income inequality — and settled on a campaign against a do-nothing congress that supposedly refuses to address it.  Even congressional Democrats are campaigning against congress.  In normal times it might work.  But with unemployment at 8.5% and the workforce at the lowest percentage of the population in since 1983, voters are looking for something more than rhetorical smoke and mirrors.  Obama hasn't got anything like that. 

In fact, Obama himself is providing the best argument in favor of supply side economics with his ongoing demonstration of everything we could possibly do to kill off a recovery.  He burdens the economy through over-regulation.  He subsidizes friends like Solyndra, and punishes enemies like Boeing.  He demonizes anybody who manages to stay productive in spite of all the ill effects of his economic policies, and he promises to tax them at higher rates.

Mitt Romney is right.  This election is about the soul of America, and people recognize that.  There is no chance that the 75% who didn't vote for Romney in Iowa are going to swing over and vote for Obama.  There is no chance that those 75% will stay home.  We Tea Partiers are biding our time.  Contributing our money and biding our time.  There is no point to marching anywhere to protest anything, whether it's on Wall Street or Washington.  Instead, we quietly wait.  In November we drop the hammer.