Mitt After Michigan

Behold another atrocious video, this one made in honor of what should be Mitt's new theme song...



So my brother-in-law calls me last night . He was in town from LA, and he wanted to gloat over Mitt's victory. We headed over to my brother's house, where we watched all the pundits explain what it all means and saw several of them rip their hair out as their beloved McCain - my candidate in Michigan, by the way - went down in flames. By 9 points! That's huge! Way beyond expectations. Mitt won in every conceivable category. He even beat Huckabee - who is now one of my two candidates in South Carolina - among evangelical voters. That's huge. Yes, Mitt was a favorite son here, but he was a favorite son in New Hampshire, too. McCain trounced Bush in Michigan in 2000. For Romney to reverse that, and do so decisively, is no small feat. This is a big victory for him. There's no real way to downplay that, and it's a lot of fun watching some pundits try.

My barometer of conservative success on major election nights is the comfort level of the major pundits. I remember in 2004, George Stephanopoulos looked like the cat who'd swallowed the canary as the exit polls predicted a solid Kerry win. Then, as the night wore on and Bush pummeled the Frenchman, Stephanopoulos became cranky and irritable, like, well, a Frenchman. The best, though, was Dan Rather, who looked like he was about to cry. When Rather's unhappy, it's good news for the country. It's too bad Rather's been sent to the glue factory. It would have been fun to watch him sputter and attempt to blunt the Mittmentum from last night.

Yet the conventional wisdom now is that this is a momentum-less election. Mitt's victory keeps him in the race, yes, but it doesn't mean anything. Three elections; three winners. La de da de da. After New Hampshire, McCain was unstoppable; now, after Michigan, Mitt's just lucky.

Bollocks.

The one constant in this cycle has been how deeply wrong the Conventional Wisdom has been up until now. People tout general election polls as if they mean anything at this stage, and insist McCain is still the front runner. Remember when Huckabee was the front runner in those very same polls? That is so two weeks ago. How about Giuliani, who barely eked out a fifth place finish, just ahead of "uncommitted?" Wasn't he inevitable once? He's now losing to Ron Freakin' Paul.

I have no idea what happens next. The good news is that neither does anyone else. I can tell you this much, though - the Conventional Wisdom is wrong. If it's not, then this would be the first time. I don't put too much stock in the Conventional Stupidity, and neither should you.

Go Mitt! (I'm backing McCain, remember. Or maybe Huckabee. I'm for sure backing the Democrat in the general election. Even if it's McCain.)