It's absoutely amazing to me that Santorum is probably going to win in Michigan tomorrow. I think it's wrong to say the momentum is in his favor, so much that Romney tripped over his own two feet right before the finish line so badly that the guy who fell on his ass a few moments earlier will cross the red tape first. It's pathetic, but I'll take it if it happens.

But what happens after that, if the probable does occur? I'd say that Republicans would want to dump Romney, though I'm not entirely sure who for. None of the obvious "white knights" are much better than Mitt, or would be after undergoing the process they'd have to undergo to compete. It's impossible for a late entrant to do anything other than ensure a floor fight at the convention, and that's probably the ultimate nightmare scenario for elite Republicans, another six months of "I'm nuttier than you are!" among all the candidates before a true tsunami of crazy in Tampa. Unless Republicans are as suicidal as they insist the Iranian regime is, they're just not going there.

On the other hand, Republicans could just shrug and admit they threw snake eyes with this lot, and just figure out whether losing with Romney, Santorum, or Gingrich would be worst, and throw their support to whoever that might be. The thing is, the answer to that question is obviously Romney. Santorum as a nominee would be a complete disaster, he'd just throw out the same random hysteria nuggets he is now, only he'd be saying them as the leader of the Republican Party, with whatever authority that bestows upon him. Which would be quite a bit worse for their image and downballot prospects, at least. Plus, what about the debates? Romney would probably be able to weasel out of some of the more disqualifying things he's said this cycle, he's good at that, but Santorum would double down and then go off on, I don't know, why the Pure Food Act needs to be repealed. Gingrich would be much the same, only he'd be more nasty and more boring, he'd say "fundamental" and "crossroads" fifty times, plus he'd have the advantage of negligible appeal outside of Washington and some parts of the South. Put simply, Mitt Romney is not only the most (only?) electable Republican, he's the one who would lose the best.

At this point, I figure a pretty good portion of the Republican Party wishes they could just kick Mitt Romney's sorry ass to the curb and pretend they never knew him. I mean, the guy's just awful in almost every way, testy in interviews and debates, no common touch, no charisma, no principles, nothing except entitlement and slickness aspiring to smoothness. But the simple fact is they can't dump him, not without destroying themselves in the process. Losing with Romney would cause the least amount of damage to Congressional and downballot candidates, and the aftermath would be much less complicated to Republicans than what would occur if Santorum or Gingrich lost, or if someone got pushed into the race late. Republican party actors could very easily have dumped Romney at many points, but they didn't. Now they're stuck with him. I don't see them turning on him.