Mitt Romney as The Sweepinator

Philip Klein — could Mitt Romney sweep all 50 states? It looks possible:

Think about it. Romney has a commanding lead in Florida, and will simply obliterate the field if he enters the Sunshine State after having won South Carolina. And if he does win South Carolina and Florida, what will become of the rest of the field? Rick Perry, who came in fifth in Iowa and bailed on New Hamphshire, already has very little justification for continuing. A distant finish in South Carolina would give him even less reason. It’s true that there are states in which Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich can theoretically beat Romney, but if they can’t beat him in South Carolina, where will they go from there? Even now, Romney has a 23-point lead nationally, according to Gallup.

Sure, perhaps Rep. Ron Paul’s fervent supporters can out-hustle Romney’s organization in a caucus here or there. But it’s also possible that Romney will run the table. Remember, as the field gets narrowed, it’ll get a lot harder for Paul to outright win a state, because he’ll have to start getting into the 40-50-plus point range.

Bill Whittle likes to say “a perfect Democratic storm” of events swept Barack Obama into office in 2008 — and even then he could garner only 53% of the vote. Something similar could be happening in this GOP primary for the unloved Romney.

I was about to add something about the GOP’s shallow bench this year, but really that’s just one of the elements of Romney’s “perfect RINO storm.”