Romney is on Target

Mitt Romney wins in New Hampshire. But it wasn't exactly a startling win; everyone knew he would win the Granite State anyway. So now it's on to South Carolina, where he leads, and Florida, where he leads as well. If the conservative Republicans or the Ron Paul supporters are going to make a move, they better do it soon. These early primaries are the ones which typically create the nominations.

Should Iowa and New Hampshire, or even South Carolina and Florida, have such pull? No offense to our sister states, but why should a Mitt Romney (or anyone else) effectively sew up their party's nomination based on so little? Yet that is what often happens in American politics: a few thousand people in New Hampshire - indeed only 8 in Iowa this year - appear to be handing the race to the former governor of Massachusetts. To be sure, there's more involved than that.

But how much more? Momentum being tomorrow's starting pitcher, and as the media and, to be fair, the voters themselves seem to like to anoint front runners, and it is pretty easy for those with a leg up to coast to a win. As the media depicts Romney as the eventual winner (are they making the news or reporting it?) a certain bandwagon effect is almost bound to happen. Romney will almost certainly be the Republican standard bearer.

Is that what the nation, or even the GOP, need? That's a question for history to answer. For now, well, the next step in the coronation process is South Carolina. Maybe the South Carlonians could secede again and make things interesting. Otherwise, the next big political news will likely not come before the summer conventions.