THROW ANOTHER LOG ON THE HOT STOVE

Well, Huckabee and Trump are out. No surprise there, I must say, but as Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com observes, the disappearance of Huckabee shakes things up considerably. I still think someone is going to get the nomination, and if you look at it long and hard, it does seem as though Romney is the unloved probable winner. But if the disappearance of Huckabee results in Bachmann doing really well in Iowa, who knows? It is very striking that more people seem to getting out than getting in. Maybe the smart money has decided that Obama is unbeatable.