Romney the nominee?

Mitt Romney with his narrow victory in Iowa is now in New Hampshire. Will the state of New Hampshiire deliver the state to him or make him wait a little longer.  A recent poll in New Hampshire indicated a 20 point lead for the presumed front runner.  Although some campaign officials are concerned about complacency in the first in the nation primary.  The campaign is pulling out a grass roots effort to make sure their supporters show up at the polls on Tuesday.  Meanwhile Romney did campaign in South Carolina where Romney has a slight lead over Rick Santorum.  It was reported earlier that a group of prominent conservatives were meeting in Texas because they are concerned that if Ronmey is nominated that he is not conservative enough.

Meanwhile the race for second is a dead heat between the surging Santorum, and others like Gingrich, Hunstman, Perry.  Who will challenge Romney in the precding states?  Santorum did an excellent job of pivoting from his speech in Iowa to focus on the economy and blue collar roots while still reminding conservatives of his socially conservative credentials.  I think Hunstman is out of it because he hasnt make much progress but we will find out Tuesday night if skipping Iowa was a strategic good move.  While Perry has good conservative credentials he has to prove himself knowledgable and and more credible on a debate stage.  Obama will eat him for lunch.  Gingrich is fascinating but his past baggage has clearly cost him even though he clearly has command of the issues. 

There are two key issues at play here.  Can Romney keeep the socially conservative candidatesdivided up long enough to get the nomnation?  Will the unemployment rate continue to drop?  Romneys camp is counting on the economy to be a key issue. While the rate is going down it will dependent on whether the people feel like things are getting better.  We are the worlds leader so people will not find a mediocre economy acceptable.