Will Marshall explains Mitt Romney’s big win in Iowa for Politico’s Arena:
“Let’s not overthink the Iowa result. Mitt Romney won big, pure and simple.
Despite dampening expectations, he finished first. Not a back trick for a candidate who has never had the support of more than a quarter of Iowa Republicans. Romney deftly played a divided field, laying low as one “real conservative” after another stepped into the spotlight, only to be dismissed by a fickle and unsettled electorate. Had Iowa been a two-man race again as it was in 2008, Romney would have finished a distant second, and someone else would be headed to New Hampshire with the Big Mo.”
