Is Mitt Romney the best of all possible GOP candidates?

Earlier this week New Jersey’s Senate Judiciary Committee approved the marriage equality bill (S1) with an 8 to 4 vote. Shortly thereafter Governor Chris Christie (R) reiterated his earlier promise that he will veto the bill. At a press conference a reporter asked Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester), one of the bill’s champions, “why bother?” Here’s why.

Call it incredible luck, call it determination, call it political skill or call it a sign of the poor state of the modern Republican party. Whatever the cause or set of causes, Mitt Romney has managed to end up basically the last legitimate Republican nominee standing.

Mitt Romney will be receiving the endorsement of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie before tonight’s Republican debate according to The Hill. The main import is not so much on Romney’s front-runner status as what no getting such an endorsement means for other candidates.

Texas Governor Rick Perry’s national poll numbers have plummeted to almost half of what they were only a few weeks ago, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. Perry is now tied for second with Herman Cain and is well behind front runner Mitt Romney.

Last Friday in an attempt to be the first large population state with a primary, Florida broke the Republican Party’s primary rules by moving up its primary date to January 31. This power play by Florida is expected to cause Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina to all move their primary dates even earlier to maintain their early state influence. That leaves little time for undeclared candidates to get in or risk missing the train.

The way the Republican Party keeps shuffling through front-runners for its 2012 presidential nomination, you almost start to wonder if these folks aren’t firm advocates of recycling after all.

Disposability is certainly something they have down pat.

Because of threats from the President Obama’s Department of Justice, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee (I) has finally decided not to let the state license its three planned medical marijuana dispensaries.

Well it appears that the latest attempt to draft a prospective Republican candidate has run aground. Chris Christie and his hip-waders are staying in New Jersey.

The fight over whether to offset emergency spending on disaster relief, as Eric Cantor wants, could end up being the most interesting upcoming battle in Congress. The lines aren’t drawn in an entirely partisan way on this one. In particular, Republican Governors in the states affected want to see that disaster relief, and don’t care about offsets.