As Mittens Becomes Inevitable...

Sucks to be a thinking Republican.

Someone will "win" Iowa's caucuses later tonight.  I am ever so hopeful of a Santorum victory, but you never know.

But with Gingrich buried under an avalanche of "negative" ads (I use air quotes, because really a Google search of Gingrich constitutes a negative ad), the way now looks clear for Mittens to win the GOP nomination.

What happens once he wins the nomination is really interesting.  How does he walk back from the crazy assed crap he's been slinging at least since Perry wandered aimlessly into the race?

Jon Chait lays out here why it will be impossible for Romney to move back to the center should he win the election.  George Packer lays out something similar here.  The tricky part will be for the Democrats to convince people that Romney will really govern from the Santorum playbook and not the Eisenhower one.

As Barney Frank put it, the Democrats bumpersticker should be: "We're not perfect, but they're nuts!"

This could be the first presidential election that turns into a referendum on the party out of power.