How can a man thrice divorced and disgraced by ethics violations win? By playing the prejudice card in southern evangelical states. Gingrich won South Carolina, because he played the repentant sinner, non-Mormon and race card. White crackers in the south, eat up inflammatory prejudice, eat up anybody other than Mitt Romney and eat up a white attack dog to beat Obama, by going straight at, their real issue with Obama; he is black.

That is all you have to know about South Carolina and how he will plan to take Romney all the way to the convention. By winning southern states using the same South Carolina strategy.

In the meantime, Romney will have to expend more energy and money to win the nomination. Serious Republican's are giving 50-50 odds, there will be a brokered convention. Romney's will have to move to the extreme right to have a chance. In the meantime; this will make his historical moderate policies, political fodder for Obama's general election attack ads, that will suggest he is a flip-flopper.

The GOP needs to get their act together and fast. Every month that this silly nomination process goes on, just gives more time, for Obama to stay above the fray.

Playing the prejudice card maybe good for Newt Gingrich. But there is no sugar-coating the state of the nomination; it is playing itself all the way to a GOP defeat, by Obama getting to run to the center, where the independents are. 

The GOP is in the process of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. If they do, it will seem totally predictable. The GOP is just "not into Romney". The GOP ran a bad field of candidates. There was a reason, that more electable candidates like Chris Christy, Mitch Daniel and Jeb Bush decided to take a pass in 2012. They knew that Obama had at least a 50% chance of winning reelection. Chris Christy is running for Vice President, so he can be the 2016 nominee. Ask other defeated Vice President nominees how that worked. Mitch Daniels and Bush are waiting their turns, by staying safely on the side lines.

This is an unforced error by the GOP. The fact, that they have not developed a deep bench, will be their 2012 undoing. Without a strong candidate, they have only one real choice. Run to the far right of their party to excite their base. Only to lose the only group that makes a difference in the general election; the 40-plus percent of people who are independents. 

Don't believe me? Well, Obama now has a 55.6% chance to win reelection, according to real money betting on InTrade. That is significantly higher, from just over 50%, before the Iowa caucuses. Like business, follow the money. The people betting, are seeing the same problem, I am seeing in the GOP. And InTrade is not affected by the "closet Obama" voting effect.