From CNN

GOP’s Romney surges in early voting states

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Forget the national polls for Mitt Romney.

Slowly, methodically, the Republican presidential contender has seized the advantage in the early states that count, relying on a solid organization, $4 million in advertising and an aggressive approach.

It’s propelled him to the top of polls in the caucus and primary sites of Iowa and New Hampshire, and laid the foundation for what some analysts argue is greater success.

“Mitt Romney is now positioned as the front-runner for the nomination,” said Scott Reed, who managed Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign. “There’s a long way to go, but to date he’s running the most logical, thought-out, structured campaign. He’s marching in the right cadence, he’s raising the money, he’s spending it wiser and he seems to be on track.”

I have to confess, I’m sort of fascinated by Mitt Romney and his campaign.

It’s not just that he belongs to a particularly loony religion. He does, but that’s not it. All religions are loony (did Blake beat me to that observation?), and if Mitt’s is based in an angelic apparition who delivered a set of golden plates engraved in an “unreadable language” to a farm kid in 1827 (which the kid transcribed by putting a hat on his face and subsequently returned to the angel…), well, it’s not necessarily fair to deduct points just for being a newer brand of Loony. If a farm boy came running out of the Vermont woods in 1827 claiming to have had a decent conversation with an ordinary-looking piece of shrubbery that had recently been on fire, and then convinced all his friends and family to follow the bush’s instructions for living…. I’m not sure that’d seem any saner.

And it’s not that I’m compelled by his “outsider” or “underdog” status. “Outsiders” who walk the straight and narrow of their party’s platform, are governors of their own states, and raise millions of dollars from party loyalists… those are the “outsiders” and “underdogs” who win elections, and they only get those labels put on them by their own camps and a complicit media who, a year before the first primary, consistently confuse “people who people have heard of” with “front-runners.” [It’s worth remembering too that a certain President’s son, presidential campaign manager, and two-term governor… also ran as an outsider who was not like “those politicians in Worshington.”]

No, it’s not that.

It has more to do with the flavor of bullshit coming out of the Romney camp. Go ahead, cruise his website. Today’s biggest issue might be the war in Iraq, but you have to really hunt around for any reference to it. And when you find it, it’s nice and general and vague - stuff about “winning” and “supporting the troops” and “not being all negative like the Democrats…” but with a couple of handy caveats that read something like “…until we’re sure that we ARE getting our asses kicked.” Romney’s actual plan for Iraq? I couldn’t find one.

Head to today’s big issue #2, immigration, and you’ll find a man who steadfastly opposes “amnesty” and wants “current laws enforced.” It’s an idea that might have occurred to other people, but the big difference is that Romney’s got a plan for a way to enforce those la- no, wait, he doesn’t.

Across the board, you will find that same miasma of unspecified “ideas” surrounding a well-put-together “values” candidate. A “plainspoken” guy who invites you too look into his heart, taste the Likability, and let him go to Washington to fixify all the stuff that needs fixin’.

What’s easy to find on his website? The man believes in the American Family (though he doesn’t specify the number of wives per family). Gay marriage? Not a fan. The economy and the military? He likes ‘em. Doesn’t want to see Democrats destroy ‘em.

So I’m thinking - given all that’s going on, given all we’ve been through, will voters actually fall for this kind of thing and elect a guy based on his ability to emit a generalized fog of “leadership qualities?” Can this particular brand of bullshit work on the American public again?

And what fascinates me, and kind of terrifies me, is that the answer I keep giving back to myself is, “Yeah. It probably can.”