Santorum Surges From Behind*

*There needs be no other comment.

The Iowa Caucus has become a multi-car wreck. Even the polls are now a mess. CNN projects Romney to win but their sample only included Republicans and not independents and Democrats who can cross the line to vote. Rasmussen is now clearly pulling his weight for Romney putting him in the lead. But others still show Ron Paul in the lead.

Michelle Bachmann is crying she can still win even though her chairperson walked right off the stage at one of her events and backed Ron Paul. She claimed he had been paid off.

The attack ads are out in force. This year Reagan's 11th Commandment--Don't attack a fellow Republican-- doesn't apply. A tone of hysteria has crept into the proceedings. Almost all the non-Mitt candidates are acting desparate. Dimissing this whole thing, one Republican thought it was "Andy Kaufman on a book tour."

The primary target now is Ron Paul. No, he's not anti-semitic. No, he is not totally against war. No, only a few lines in his newsletters were problematic. Even in New Hampshire, he was attacked by the Machester Leader-Guardian for his foreign policy views. Leaks from his former aides about his homophobia didn't offend Dan Savage. Savage said Paul was older than his father and came from an era that ostracized gays but to Paul's credit he thinks gays should have rights. Nah, it was nothing to worry about.

The major media is hyping Mitt Romney claiming huge crowds are greeting his bus tour. Even E.J. Dionne is falling prey to Romney-mania saying that if he wins Iowa and New Hampshire it's all over.

Willard claimed today that President Obama was like Marie Antoinette. Remember Mitt just finished a week of accusing Newt of being a flip-flopper. So I guess he just takes what applies to him and projects it against his opponent. Willard is now dumping millions into Iowa to win, even though he had written it off only weeks before.

Newt claims that Romney is the second most dangerous man in America. I'll let you guess who number one is. Newt was going to do an all-state bus tour but cancelled half the stops. He still doesn't have an organization.

Rick Perry accused President Obama of thinking about politics over his country. The reason--Obama did not sponsor parades for the soldiers returning from Iraq. Perry said that if he had to drop out of the race it was "God's will."

What's so interesting in this food fight is that six candidates are only separated by less than 10percentage points so it is still any one's game.

I have to admit I've never seen a presidential primary be as ridiculous as this one. As Huffington Post wrote yesterday the economy is almost nowhere on anyone's agenda. Rick Perry, for example, instead of talking about his Texas Miracle only emphasized that he had toughened his stance against abortion saying he would not even permit it even for incest or rape. Newt continued his war against the judiciary--which Ross Douhut of the Times seems to like. Newt said he would appoint his judges from the Federalist Society, Regent College, and Liberty University, all extreme right organizations.

At least the sane will have a chance to vote for former Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico on the libertarian line in the fall. Johnson was an extremely popular governor and had an amazing record on creating jobs in New Mexico. Known as the governor who vetoes more bills than any other in American history, he favors decriminalization of marijuana and same-sex marriage.

Or if you need someone else, you can vote for whomever America Elect comes up with. There was an excellent article at Washingtonmonthly about how America Elect will select their ideal centrist for the next election. As things develop, I'll write about this gang of 1%ers later in the year.

Iowa was supposed to be where you got so see the strengths and weaknesses of campaign organizations, the power of candidates' messages, and the qualities of a candidate as a retail politician. Instead this year it was the sight of a freakshow. Only two people had campaign organizations--Romney and Paul. The campaign was almost exclusively waged over the television. Now even the final vote will be announced at a private "undisclosed" location, raising questions about its fairness. This the Caucus, which was the most open of all.