The Storm before the Calm...

The current polling out of Iowa suggests a tightening race with Romney, Santorum and Paul all within two percentage points of one another.

However since Iowa is a caucus state, there is a certain amount of raw uncertainty built into the polling process since the balloting process requires a greater commitment of time and is done more or less as a collective.
Romney's numbers in Iowa have remained almost static since last summer, almost a quarter of Republicans seem ready to caucus for him, and those numbers haven't shifted at all in six months. The implications seem clear, if a creditable wingnut could emerge from Iowa that candidate would easily command a two-to-one majority over Mitt Romney in the caucuses. Under pressure like that, Brand Romney might have abandoned the state save for a cheap-ass face saving effort.
However the forces of religious reaction have not coalesced as they have in years past which has given Romney some room to manuever in a crowded volatile race.
I think Romney's goal here is simple, he doesn't so much wanna win as "not lose" the Iowa caucus, even if that means potentially ceding top laurels to an unelectable nitwit like Ron Paul or Rick Santorum.
He can afford to spot a few percentage points to either candidate, both men haven't got the money or the reach to be anything else but a vocal insurgency as the primaries grind on.
At this point, Rick Santorum might have a great day tomorrow and it only take him as far as the fifth man down on Romney's vice presidential short list.
Perceptions being more important than reality to Team Romney, their goal here is run a good race, keep the opposition volatile and divided and then try to run up a big crushing Reagan-Bush style avalanche style victory in New Hampshire.
All of this seems fairly obvious to the casual observer, likely this is exactly how things will play out in New Hampshire...Save for the fact that the Granite State GOP voters as often kicks establishment candidates as they may kiss them.
And those adverts Brand Romney is running on Boston television reek of hubris and smarm, but will it work?
Maybe...