For the first time since this Republican race for the presidency began in earnest last year, the "inevitability" sheen that has been superimposed on Mitt Romney has lost a bit of luster in in the wake of his shellacking by Newt Gingrich Saturday night in South Carolina.
The Palmetto State was supposed to be the firewall not only for Gingrich but for the entire Tea Party movement, so in retrospect perhaps it's not that shocking that a "Massachusetts moderate," as Gingrich refers to the would-be front runner, would suffer his first convincing loss of the 2012 primary calendar.
But the loss was such a rebuke that it led Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace to ask Romney if his Mormon religion might be a problem with some parts of the GOP electorate.
Romney disagreed, saying, "Well, I don't think in the final analysis that religion is going to play a big factor in selecting our nominee. I do think that conservative values do play an enormous role, and I think the speaker has some explaining to do for sitting down on the sofa with Nancy Pelosi and arguing for climate change regulation, for calling the Paul Ryan plan right wing social engineering."
Romney made news on Sunday when he said he would release his 2010 tax returns and an estimate of his 2011 return on Tuesday — a day after Jeb Bush said that he should do so before Florida votes in its primary on January 31.
This article appears in Jan 19-25, 2012.