Most likely Gingrich will come in about fourth in the Iowa caucus which might seem like a big success for the Romney Super PACS who tried to bomb Gingrich out of the race, but for that strategy to work against a personality like Gingrich you have to make sure you kill him (speaking metaphorically) not just wound him. A wounded or threatened animal is sometimes more dangerous than one which can run away from you. A man in Florida ran an animal rescue foundation. He struggled to get enough funding to continue his work but would take on any assignment. When he freed a young deer who was hopelessly tangled in a fence the deer kicked the living daylights out of him, he nearly died and had to go on permanent disability. The deer was bleeding but managed to lope off to live another day. So may Gingrich.

If there were anything on this planet which could create sympathy in my mind for a man like Gingrich it would be the use of lethal force to knock him out of the race. I don't care who he is, the use of SP funds to bomb him into submission just doesn't sound fair, but more importantly the carpet bombing may tap into animosity towards the Citizens' United case, which doesn't seem to be anyone's favorite regardless of political stripe. It is significant that this particular exercise by Romney highlights for perhaps the first time how SP money can take down an opponent's lead. It should be shocking to anyone, regardless of right or left.

The reason the Romney folks concentrated on Gingrich is they know the guy is mercurial and dangerous if he gets the right platform. He has the ability to ride the tiger well. In overdoing on Gingrich and ignoring the others they seemed to have flattened out the race. Romney may do well tonight in Iowa, but regardless of that, he has a wounded tiger in Gingrich. Gingrich will now take off the gloves and go directly at Romney in New Hampshire, with the obvious target being South Carolina.

The Citizens United decision is essentially an anti-populist one. Who actually believes that Corporations are people? Who is not astounded by the money spent in Iowa by outside groups? In an interview yesterday, Gingrich clearly denounced the use of outside SP's and announced his intention to use the issue against Romney. The SP blitz in Iowa by Romney's SP's is a new development in the primary race. While the CU decision has been around for a while, this is as good a laboratory experiment as one could devise, and may be the best actual evidence of the significance of the decision. 

I've taken a look at the actual schedule of upcoming debates that are inter-twined in the next three Republican primaries. While pundits have discounted the effect of the debates compared to the SP money which is available to Romney, I'm not so sure the debates aren't dangerous for Romney. There are four debates before the South Carolina primary and to my mind Gingrich can do considerable damage to Romney, despite the negative advertising from Romney. I don't think the tea wing has given up on defeating Romney so they might get behind Gingrich if he gets a bump in the polls. If Santorum lags and the media adopt the wounded tiger and the the issue of SP money, Gingrich will take advantage. It's important to note that the carpet bombing in Iowa occured in the absence of any debates. And as a pundit put it, correctly I think, Gingrich is "copy" and Santorum is not. As a second page media story, Santorum may have a problem maintaining momentum. 

It seems that the populist appeal of railing against Corporations as people and against the devastating effects of secret corporate donations fits well with the other attacks which Gingrich can level at Romney.

Whatever else Gingrich is, he is not a Wall St. guy. Romney is a Wall St. guy, and Bain capital is part and parcel of the anti-worker Wall St. greed which nearly brought down the country. No candidate, and certainly not Obama, has yet tapped into the anger against Wall St---it just looks like a gold nugget waiting to be picked out of the debris and put into one's pocket, and Gingrich just might do it. What does he have to lose? It may close off some funding sources, but the tea wing will love a strong populist rant against Wall St. 

Perhaps the animosity toward CU and SP's is not as strong as I assume among rank and file Republicans, but even so Gingrich has the ability to exploit it and make it an issue. 

With all the anti-Romneys, any decision between them is a case of the "cleanest dirty shirt". So far Romney has stayed above the fray, but I think Gingrich is going to muddy him up a bit. And of course, Santorum will be chipping away at Romney's shirt as well. So, once all the shirts are dirty, it seems that Gingrich has as good a shot as anyone else, despite all his baggage. We have not seen a South Carolina poll recently so I feel I'm flying blind here, but I'll take my chances. 

I have great hesitation in saying anything positive or hopeful about Gingrich. But I think he is the smartest one on the stage, he is a good speaker and he is fast of his feet. No one has really landed a punch on Romney, it'll  be interesting to see if Gingrich can do so. For a political junkie like myself it will be fascinating to see if debate performances can go head to head with Super Pac carpet bombing.