Iowa's Over but What Did It Prove about Romney, Perry, Gingrich or the Nomination

Like some of you, dear readers, I was awake until after 6am, European time, last night, watching and waiting for the Iowa story to play out. I was also on the phone to the United States, where my sister gave me the Fox News account from time to time, while I was zapping between CNN, Sky News and BBC World Service. 
Why bother? Well, I'm a political animal and I firmly believe that our civilization will rise or fall based on the people we elect to public office. It may not be glamorous to take a bus or pick-up truck trip around the winter-shorn corn fields of rural Iowa, or put in place a campaign group to touch up everyone in the United States for the funds required to take a shot at the presidency.
It is certainly not fun to see all that go down the drain in one caucus-directed night, when the Republican citizens of Iowa decide precinct-by-precinct whether they think you've got what it takes. Michele Bachmann took it on her determined chin last night, getting a mere 5% of the caucus votes. Then she did what almost every losing candidate does - she gave a stump speech about going on because she is the only one who can win in November. And, today, she did the other predictable thing - she announced that she's put her campaign on hold. We may read that as a 'stop this train because I'm getting off' announcement from a tough campaigner who gave it everything she had, spent all the money in her coffers, and finally just couldn't make the grade. So, we won't be seeing Michele in New Hmapshire or South Carolina. But, we should say thank-you, because she was the woman who singlehandedly organized the protest against Obamacare and got the tea partiers to use their voices and feet and pocketbooks against the imminent destruction of America as we know it.
More drama arrived on the TV screen when Texas Governor Rick Perry, who spent a lot of money in Iowa and got only 10% of the caucus votes, announced that he was going back to Texas to decide if there remained a place for him in 2012 presidential politics. I phoned my sister and said, that's it, Romney will now surely get the nomination, because in my mind Rick Perry was the only viable conservative alternative and he was going home. But, when I woke up today, I heard that Rick Perry, probably bolstered by some sleep and a hard look at the Iowa results and the South Carolina polls, decided to get on with the campaign. I'm truly glad that Perry's going to test himself again in South Carolina - that he's going to take another whack at debating this weekend in New Hampshire - because he is an articulate, thoughtful, profoundly engaged Republican whose face and smile are so like Reagan's that it startles me every time I see him. If you get a chance to see a replay of his speech to the Clive, Iowa, caucus last night, don't miss it. It would be almost enough to beat Obama if Perry just says it over and over again. Perry will make a difference in the race, now that he's in to stay. His challenge to Obama and Romney is authentic...traditional...conservative... fiscally cautious..socially engaged Republicanism and he deserves to be heard.
Okay. Now what happened in Iowa?
Mitt Romney proved yet again that he is not trusted or liked by the mainstream of the GOP. No matter how much he pretends to be the GOP leader, at 25% of the Iowa vote, he is not. The only people who think he should be the candidate are Democratic analysts and politicians who already knew what the GOP now ought to get hold of - Romney cannot beat Barak Obama because the mass of his own party will choke at the voting booth, if they even bother to go to vote, saying, 'if America is going to go down in flames, I'd rather it were the flames stoked by Obama and his Democrat lackeys and not by my beloved GOP.' Trust me.
Rick Santorum is the Huckabee of 2012. He has no staff, no money, no plan about how to get either, and no program beyond being a good family man. If that's what we're looking for, we could elect the local pastor. Forget Santorum. He's the wrong person in the wrong year because 2012 is all about the economy, stupid. 
Newt Gingrich is clearly the articulation of conservative Republicanism. He knows it. But, I think he also knows that he'd have a tough time beating Obama by himself. Yet, the GOP needs his thoughts and experience and gutsy image. Put him in the Vice President slot and let him rip - with Obama, with Harry Reid, with the media. It's his calling.
Romney. It ain't over till the fat lady sings, Mitt, and she's still fast asleep.  You're a good person, a fine campaigner as long we don't ask you to take any risks or actually say what you think deep down. And, that's the problem. Just what do you stand for? Every time I try to answer that question, I come up with things like universal health care, higher taxes, compromise on social issues and no sense of what to do about the deficit or the budget. Ask Gingrich or Perry. They know what to do and they really believe what they say about these critical issues. You cannot beat Obama because you are Obama II. The differences in your portfolios are philosophical, not political. You agree on the practical basics, and are both willing to let the philosophical niceties wait. That's how America got herself into this current mess, so why should Americans vote for you to continue it?
Ron Paul, God bless him, is 2012's Paul Revere. He's on his horse swinging his lantern and crying in the night so we don't forget that he's right almost 80% of the time (when he's talking about fiscal and constitutional issues) and deadly wrong when he strays into diplomacy and foreign relations. His real danger would be in staging a third party run because, don't forget, the Libertarian Party is registered in all 50 states. Let us find a role for him in the GOP and keep him off the Libertarian ballot.
We haven't heard from Donald Trump yet, or from Herman Cain either. What worries me is that they may try the Libertarian-type third party trick, too, perhaps together. My advice would be for them to get behind Perry and Gingrich and stop the Romney bandwagon before it kills the GOP in November, because any third party candidate on the right will only clinch the election for Obama.
New Hampshire and South Carolina, look out. Here come the Republicans and it's far from over!  That's what we learned last night in Iowa.