Brian Doherty celebrates Paul:
The giddy spirit of the Paulistas will march on; every single one of the youth volunteers I spoke to, whether the ones put up by the campaign in hotels or sleeping on Free Staters floors, said they were quite confident they'd be moving on to work for Ron Paul's victory in South Carolina, in Nevada, in Maine, in Massachusetts, in New York, in Florida. As I moved through the Paul fans' resolute and well-earned good cheer and joys and in-jokes of weary gangs who have been through the wringer together, I started thinking: how will the significance of what's going on here with the Paul movement continue to be misread or ignored?
Jim Fallows compares Paul's and Huntsman's speeches:
The difference between the Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman "victory" speeches just now is the difference between someone (Paul) who didn't actually expect to win the nomination and was mainly advancing a cause, and someone (Huntsman) who must have entertained dreams not simply of an upset in New Hampshire but of going all the way.
Alex Massie ponders the inevitability of Romney:
Sure, something could happen to defeat Romney. Sure, he's not a compelling front-runner. Sure, there are reasons to be worried that turnout in the GOP contests thus far has been lower than might have been predicted a year ago. And, yeah, you look at Romney and you think that, well, even if he's not wholly underwhelming he sure ain't greatly whelming either. But who else is there? Asking the question reveals the gaping horror at the heart of this process: there is no-one else.
Jonathan Bernstein thinks the race is almost over:
The problem is that both Santorum and Perry have shown themselves to be such weak campaigners that even with a hefty boost, it seems unlikely they could defeat Romney. And if that’s the case, and if party actors believe that’s the case, then it’s far more likely that they either remain quiet or even shut things down by supporting Romney. All in all, it’s not quite over yet, but it’s getting very, very close to being over.
Nate Silver calculates Romney's odds in South Carolina:
I’m not quite ready to say that Mr. Romney has the nomination locked up, but when you evaluate the known unknowns, they don’t seem that threatening to him. We may be nearing the point where an unknown unknown — a heretofore unexposed scandal, a major gaffe, an “oops” moment in a debate — is what it would take to trip Mr. Romney up.
Bill Kristol hasn't given up:
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