COMMENTARY | Since Feb. 11, Mitt Romney has rattled off five straight victories in the Republican Party's nominating process and the former Massachusetts governor finds himself in a prime position heading into Super Tuesday. But perhaps Romney's latest surge is a metaphor for his campaign in general since it has largely occurred with little fanfare or emotion, and relatively scant attention from the media.
The fact remains while Romney clearly doesn't garner much passion from most Republican voters, and he has made a few stumbles along the way, of the four major candidates who are battling for the nomination, he is essentially the only one who can win at this point. And Super Tuesday looks like it might seal the deal for him.
Let's stop pretending Newt Gingrich has a snowball's chance in Georgia of winning the nomination. In fact, Gingrich hasn't been much of a factor since he was the surprise winner of the South Carolina primary in late January.
According to Real Clear Politics, within a week after his victory in the Palmetto State, Gingrich fell out of the lead in national polls and he has been in a tailspin ever since, with no sign of a recovery. He has just 15 percent support among GOP voters nationally, according to the latest Gallup daily tracking survey.
Meanwhile, the former House Speaker has adopted what amounts to a "Georgia Plan," focusing all of his attention on his home state with the hope that winning it will somehow, inexplicably, jump-start his dying campaign. It won't.
Then there's Ron Paul, whose attempt to collect delegates from the caucus states in favor of competing in the large and expensive primary states has, to this point, been a complete failure. Paul has collected a paltry 25 delegates. Of the seven Super Tuesday states that have been polled, according to the New York Times, Paul is not threatening to win or even come close to winning any of them.
Paul told CBS News he expects to win Alaska, Idaho and North Dakota, the only states voting Tuesday that have not been polled. Who knows if he's correct. Even if he does win those states, Paul won't have gained much.
Finally, there's Rick Santorum. He had a good run that led to his sweep of Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado nearly a month ago. But he let Michigan slip from his grasp and appears to be doing the same thing in Ohio. His stances on birth control and the separation of church and state have put him at odds with many, including a lot of fellow Catholics who, according to a Reuters poll last month, lean more toward Romney. It seems the former Pennsylvania senator is even too fanatical on social issues for many of his fellow Republicans.
And that leaves Romney -- the best of the worst that the Republican Party has to offer.
