Down to the Iowa Wire

One month. That's the time GOP presidential contenders have left to persuade Iowans to vote for them. The polls have been so varied that I wonder if they really say anything at all. Bachmann, then Romney, then Perry, then Cain, now Gingrich. With, always, Ron Paul lurking in the near front position waiting for his chance to move up in the polls. What I see is Iowa caucus "likelies" who don't know what to think or who to vote for.
Let's look at this list.
Michele Bachmann is not going to win. Her voice is fading fast because she seems like a broken record repeating over and over the two or three themes she brought into her candidacy a year ago. We now know she will kill Obamacare on the first day of her presidency, she will offer $2 a gallon gas (heaven knows how because she's silent about the means), she will revise the tax code (won't they all?) and that's about it. Oh yes, she's for motherhood...I hate to repeat myself, but aren't we all?
Cain was self-destruction as a work in progress. He often reminds me of the little tyke kneeling beside his bed and saying, "I try to be good, please help me not to dip my sister's pigtail in the ink bottle again." His 9-9-9 and putting Congress on notice that he would manage everything is reminiscent of the catastrophic presidency of Jimmy Carter, an honorable man who couldn't delegate even the most mundane tasks, which left his presidency in virtual freeze mode for four years. Mr. Carter has done many good things since leaving the White House, but he was never meant to be President. He didn't have the temperament for it. Neither does Herman Cain.
Newt Gingrich is, to quote my sister, in perpetual self-destruct mode. It will happen sooner or later, and we can only hope that it occurs before the Iowa caucuses, or at least before South Carolinians vote. Because, and this is something to think about seriously, Gingrich could at any moment embarrass America bigtime. We now have the first sexual innuendos afloat, and what else will come out of the woodwork, à la Cain, to pour its messy sexual or financial scandal over Newt's head, I cannot guess. But, be assured, the stories are out there. They will arrive, exaggerated and possibly not even true, but Newt Gingrich has put himself in harm's way vis-à-vis propriety. It would not be useful for the mess to break after he's in the White House.
Ron Paul is steady, conservative, and determined to correct America's constitutional missteps. He is often so right in his analysis that we forget that he just might let the Middle East go up in flames because the United States has "no special interest" there. Ron Paul needs to get his feet back on the ground, which will happen like a bucket of cold water in New Hampshire, no matter how well he does in Iowa. We need Ron Paul's voice and counsel, but not from the White House Rose Garden.
Rick Perry. Dear readers, you surely know by now that I have a soft spot for Governor Perry. He is conservative, a proven executive manager of the second largest state in the Union, someone who has dealt with the reality of illegal immigration, and who has the social and religious values that Americans look for in their President. He's third at 13%, with Mitt Romney at 18% tied with Paul for second place, in the Iowa polls, but he's throwing money at TV ads and his people are making the phone calls and beginning the face-to-face visits that brings in caucus votes. Perry will do well in Iowa. Maybe second or third. He also has a big following and organization in South Carolina. So, let's watch Mr. Perry because I don't think he's out of the race...yet.  
Why does it always come down to Mitt Romney? He's in perpetual second place now in most polls, behind Gingrich. But, Iowans have not made up their minds and more than 70% say they may change their idea about who to vote for before the caucuses begin. Mitt Romney is solid, has proven public and private executive managerial experience, is moderate. 
There's the rub. Never has a word that means in the middle and not extreme, been so negative. Moderate. Aristotle's Golden Mean, the path to virtue and a happy life. We teach our kids to be moderate, but Americans don't seem to be able to vote for a moderate for President. And, Obama's leftist performance, after selling himself as a moderate, makes Romney's job all the harder.
But, there is one thing to be said for Mitt Romney. There are almost certainly no skeletons in his closet - unless you count his Massachusetts health care law. He's been happily married, perhaps as only a devoted Mormon can be, for 40 years to his teenage sweetheart. He has six sons. He has never been accused of financial mis-management. His religion is known, stable and not at all a problem if one thinks reasonably about it.
Mitt Romney would never embarrass America. So what's the problem?