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Except we haven't even done Iowa yet. Everyone moves and shakes until Iowa is over. How do you pay staff or even have any organization in any state? You can't.

After Iowa Bachmann and Santorum will be gone although Bachmann could hang around. Santorum isn't going to keep fighting so he will drop and his voters will look elsewhere just like Cain's did.

Perry could very well pull 3rd in Iowa with Romney 4th or 5th. Pull a bad showing in New Hampshire and lose South Carolina and Florida. It's all about momentum and although you may not believe it, Newt has yet to be vetted. Newt's vetting will be a drip drip drip and as Perry sharpens his debates, and he already has done so since the "oops" gaffe, Newt will lose soft support to Perry. Eventually Newt will have to spend money or make money. Staffers want to get paid.

I could actually see Newt doing poorly in Iowa for the simple reason he has no ground game. No one to drag his supporters to the polls. What then?

Except we haven't even done Iowa yet. Everyone moves and shakes until Iowa is over. How do you pay staff or even have any organization in any state? You can't.

By your measure, Ron Paul should have done much better in 2008 since he had a lot of money and a lot of volunteers and organizers. Thanks to the internet, TV, the debates, if they can be on the ballot, they can have influence, regardless of money. These days, money means nothing, otherwise Romney and Perry would be fighting for the lead and we wouldn't be talking about anybody else.

Perry could very well pull 3rd in Iowa with Romney 4th or 5th. Pull a bad showing in New Hampshire and lose South Carolina and Florida. It's all about momentum

Romney could run away with a huge win in New Hampshire and it won't mean squat anywhere in the South. He's a Mormon and a RINO - he can get a win in New Hampshire, but those two things won't sell well in the South. Well maybe Florida.

It's all about momentum and although you may not believe it, Newt has yet to be vetted. Newt's vetting will be a drip drip drip

It took Jim Robinson and a few others to remind me that Newt has been more thoroughly vetted than any other candidate in the primaries. The Democrats did everything they could time and time again to take him down over the past 20 years.

During the last debate, Snuffleupagus and Sawyer were doing their damnedest to sink Newt and get the other candidates to pile on, and while a few did pile on Newt, Newt came out on top and Romney came out hurting. Gingrich won simply because he had the most to lose in the last debate, and he didn't lose anything - the moderators tried their best to drag him under, and he turned their attacks into pluses and threw it all back in their faces.

Newt has been through the pressure cooker - none of the other candidates have had to go through such pressure and so much vetting over the years. Bachmann and Perry have had easy campaigns during their career for the most part, and neither was subjected to the stress on a national level that Newt has experienced during the leadup to the Republican Revolution. Santorum....well Rick can't even win his own state. Ron Paul is in his own little world where reality rarely intrudes. Romney...the media has been going very light on him in the hopes he gets the nomination.

Like Jim Robinson and others have said, Gingrich is battle-tested on a level that none of the other candidates has ever experienced. Without Gingrich, the Republicans would not have had 1994. I still have a lot of issues with Gingrich, but the man has a proven track record of fighting and beating the Democrats at a national level.