◼ With just 35 days to go before the Iowa caucuses, the Anybody-But-Romney coalition within the Republican party is switching into overdrive. The only problem is, it isn't a coalition, and it hasn't yet decided who the Anybody-But-Romney will actually be. Other than that, things are going well. - Byron York/Washington Examiner
Meanwhile, in Boston, the Romney campaign can't help wondering why Republicans are going to such lengths to avoid supporting Romney. Their latest problem is Monday's decision by the New Hampshire Union Leader to endorse Gingrich. The worry, apart from the paper's influence in Romney's strongest state, is that the endorsement might affect the discussions in far-away Iowa, pushing some of those reluctant social conservatives toward Gingrich.
But the biggest problem for Romney is that the talks in Iowa, and the paper's endorsement in New Hampshire, are just the latest evidence that a lot of Republican energy is being expended in trying to avoid supporting Mitt Romney. That's not good, no matter how they spin it.
