Mitt is now the GOP frontrunner. So saith Rush, so shall it be:

Rush Limbaugh, the cigar-chomping conservative stalwart, has been on a tear over the last few weeks, talking up Romney and taking whacks at John McCain and Mike Huckabee. And in a race where no candidate has been able to unify the base of the Republican Party, Limbaugh’s chatter matters. With 13.5 million listeners on 600 stations, the nation’s most highly rated talk-radio host could give Romney a big boost.

"Of course it helps," said Stuart Stevens, a media adviser for Romney. "He’s like the NPR for conservatives."

Limbaugh, who makes a point of saying he does not officially endorse in the primaries, has nonetheless praised Romney effusively, repeated Romney’s policy talking points, defended him against attacks from fellow conservatives, and after Romney’s win in Michigan this week, declared him the front-runner.

On the night of the Michigan primary, Chuck Todd said that with no clear frontrunner for the GOP, it was only a matter of time before guys like Haley Barbour stood up and said "why not me?" and predicted that 2 months from now all hell would break loose.

Mitt makes sense. The fundies are going to be in open rebellion if McCain gets the nod but Huckabee poses too much of a future threat.

Chuck Todd is hardly the Oracle at Delphi, having predicted that having Nancy Pelosi as Speaker would push Bush’s approval rating to 50% by the summer of 2007. But for a party that must be in apoplexy about the disorderly and chaotic state of the current nominating process, Rush’s attempt to coronate Romney makes sense.

Hey Huck, enough with the fried squirrel. You gonna take that?