End of Mitt Milquetoast

The Republican voters, the pollsters tell us, are interested in one thing: a candidate that can beat Barack Obama.  Presumably that's why we fell in love with Newt Gingrich for half an hour when he beat up the media and liberals in the debates before the South Carolina primary.

The Romney campaign learned something from South Carolina and we learned something about the Romneyites.

To get back on top after the South Carolina loss the Romney campaign had to fight back against the surging Newt Gingrich.  The New York Times chappies Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny helpfully gave us a little insight into the Romney operation as it responded to the Gingrich challenge.

In a call last Sunday morning, just hours after Mr. Romney’s double-digit loss to Mr. Gingrich in the South Carolina primary, the Romney team outlined the new approach to the candidate. Put aside the more acute focus on President Obama and narrow in on Mr. Gingrich.

Find lines of attack that could goad Mr. Gingrich into angry responses and rally mainstream Republicans. Swarm Gingrich campaign events to rattle him. Have Mr. Romney drop his above-the-fray persona and carry the fight directly to his opponent, especially in two critical debates scheduled for the week.

That's what we have been wanting to read for months.  We want to know that the Romney campaign has the depth and the toughness to take on the Obama Chicago machine.  We want to know that the Romney campaign has the will to win.  Now we know.

Now we know that when the Romney campaign got behind, it had the organization, the means and the will to mount a kill-and-destroy mission to shoulder its way back into the lead.

That's what we have been waiting for.