No

Chris Cillizza was stuck. Something new to write about. Aye, there's the rub, a little something we all know well in the grinding monotony of this GOP presidential race. So he coquettishly asked a throwaway question -- "Is Mitt Romney underrated?" -- and proceeded to titillate in a most amusing manner.

Well, let's see, answered Cillizza, Romney's a Mormon in a monstrously anti-Mormon party, he's "a moderate ... in a party that wants red-meat conservatism," he possesses "a Northeastern base in a Southern party," his "signature legislative achievement" was a healthcare bill roundly detested by the base, and, to boot, he "is no world-beater as a candidate," he's "awkward and somewhat tin-eared," and, finally, and somewhat charitably, the man "can seem aloof."

Ergo, all things considered, "it’s clear that he doesn’t get enough credit for what he’s accomplished" -- i.e., presumably, a miraculous survival.

But wait. What are these 10 words I also espy, buried in Cillizza's column? Ah, yes. The only real answer, in the form of an overriding understatement, as to whether Mitt Romney is critically underrated as a Republican candidate: "Romney has benefited from a deeply flawed set of opponents."

Translated, no one of even the scantiest political abilities could have lost to a Michele Bachmann, a Herman Cain, a Newt Gingrich or a Rick Santorum. No one.