Now that we've gone through one politician after another Republicans thought would be just totally awesome and should run for president -- Sarah Palin, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, and one (Rick Perry) who got in, then promptly showed he wasn't so terrifically skilled after all -- the question of the day has become, "What is Mitt Romney to do? He's plodding toward the nomination, but Republicans don't love him!" To which I say, what's the big deal?

Federal candidates are scrambling to rake in a few extra dollars because today is the last day to include the amounts in third-quarter fundraising numbers. Official tallies don't have to be reported until the middle of next month, but a handful of the campaigns have already leaked their numbers.

Jonathan Bernstein explains why dealing with "Obamneycare" or whatever you might want to call it isn't such a big deal for Mitt Romney after all:

Since entering the Republican presidential primary in August, Rick Perry has led the pack in South Carolina -- according to Public Policy Polling’s most recent survey of the state, Perry led the entire field by at least twenty points.

Shortly after that poll was released, I spent some time in South Carolina, and found that -- among the rank-and-fle at least -- opinions weren’t as cut and dry. Admiration for Perry was widespread, but there was plenty of ambivalence about his ability to lead when compared to more established candidates like Mitt Romney or Michele Bachmann.

Before we get into this post about polling in the presidential race, please understand that I'm not saying that anything we're seeing today predicts what will happen next November. With that out of the way, let me point out something interesting.

In an old episode of The Simpsons, Homer discovers that he'll have to pay an extra $5 in taxes to support a bear patrol. "It's the biggest tax increase in history!" he shouts.

Not to be outdone by Rick Perry, Ben Smith reports that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has signed the National Organization for Marriage's pledge to "defend marriage" by supporting a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality (via Igor Volsky):