ROMNEY STUMBLES...WILL HE FALL?

Mitt Romney stumbled badly last night, losing all three contests to Rick Santorum. Missouri was a "beauty contest" that awarded no delegates, but Santorum showed real strength by winning with 55% of the vote. Santorum won every county. He also won the caucuses in Minnesota, with Ron Paul finishing second and Romney third. But the big news is Colorado. Romney was expected to win in Colorado. Instead, Santorum won those caucuses as well 40% to 35% for Romney.

These defeats tell us two things. First, the dissatisfaction with Romney in the ranks of conservative Republicans remains as a significant factor. He has not closed the deal with the base of the party which is still casting about for an alternative. Second, Romney continues to campaign unevenly, doing well at times, but doing extraordinarily badly at others.

The only reason Romney remains as the front runner is that the conservative opposition has not found a single standard bearer they can agree upon. In fact, so long as both Gingrich and Santorum remain in the race they will split the anti-Romney vote.

Romney still has the best and clearest path to the nomination, but it is not without its ruts and potholes, and he stumbled into one of them yesterday. Let's see how he responds.