Mitt Romney is still leading in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, but it is somewhat shocking that the former Massachusetts Governor, who really would be a formidable candidate against President Obama, only garners 26% of all Republicans and only 18% among Tea Party supporters. He is hardly a well known quantity and with Mitch Daniels sitting out, Romney should have a lock on moderate Republicans. Alas, that is a dying breed.
As the article notes, there remains a big opening for Sarah Palin. If she is included in the list, she comes in second, with 18% of the vote. But, if Palin gets in, she runs the risk of dividing the Tea Party voters between herself and Michele Bachmann. That may be the salvation of Romney's campaign: 30% might win a multi-candidate primary, and as the Tea Party favorites drop out, he might have already sufficiently garnered enough momentum to become the default second choice of voters who originally supported other candidates.
