Although the Washington Post-ABC News's latest polling on an Obama-Romney matchup is good news, for now this contest is more about trends, and they're even better.
To put it somewhat more broadly than statisticians, somewhat less exactingly than political scientists, and with a decorum befitting the blogosphere's rather ill-mannered directness, Americans, on average, think Romney an unendurable ass.
Or, as the Post put it, with a trifle more sophistication: "By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him." Remarkable restraint then seized Dan Balz, Jon Cohen & Editors, which prevented them from adding the straight-reportorial assessment, "It's nearly enough to restore one's faith in American democracy."
Not just a plurality, but a majority -- outside the margin of error -- "of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying." When narrowed to Romney, even the GOP aborigines give as many thumbs down as thumbs up. What's more, he's bleeding independents.
Ahem. Dear Republicans, a word of advice, or, let's say, a friendly suggestion. You are going down, and you are going down hard. True, it's a long road to November; but when the sitting president, in his fourth year, is also sitting on an 8+ unemployment rate (thanks to those charmless hooligans with whom you so gratuitously stuffed Congress last year) and your "electable" guy is experiencing the equivalent of an electoral defenestration, then no one would blame you for fundamentally reassessing. So, my suggestion, already adverbially exposed: Go with Newt.
Look, you'd have far more fun, the rest of us would be immeasurably entertained, the media would soar to the sensationalist heavens, some faux Lincoln-Douglas redux would guarantee more funny million-dollar ads and Madonna could do the halftime show -- all the way around, Gingrich is a win, win, win ... there's just no downside. But he is sure lose, you say? Well, yeah. But what is Mitt going to do, assuming we can all stay awake long enough to find out?
No, no. Newt's your guy. Go with Newt. Make everybody's day.