To the victor go the spoils
The bad news: Mitt Romney has won, and he has won by means it would be kind to call dishonourable. Both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum's evident hatred for the man is perfectly justified: a man with neither the personal vivacity and talent of Gingrich nor the principle of Santorum has defeated both by using avalanches of money to drag both their names in the mud (think of the disgusting attack on the Santorums' mourning for a stillborn baby) as well as those of anyone who stands in their way. The good news: if the only point of politics is defeating Obama, Romney is well placed to do just that. Obama carries as much baggage as Gingrich and far more than Santorum, and if Romney uses his attack-shark tactics as ruthlessly as he has done it against his Republican opponents, Obama will be facing something he has never had to face in his life. Nobody can underrate the force of the Democrat response, but the difference is that where Romney is concerned his electorate will already have heard it all. They will know he is a twisty, sleazy crook with etch-a-sketch principles and no respect for any values; they will know that whatever his Mormon religion amounts to, it certainly does not constrain him in the political field; and they will know that he prefers fighting dirty. In other words, they have another Nixon on their hands. But hey, if that is what it takes to beat the incumbent....