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Iowa Omen?

11:48 PM, Jan 2, 2012 • By WILLIAM KRISTOL
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Des Moines, Iowa
As I checked in to my hotel here tonight, the first person I ran into in the lobby was Rick Santorum. Accompanied by his family, he (and they) seemed in a good mood—which was made even better when I told him I wasn't going to write a post predicting his victory, because it would just jinx him. He heaved a sigh of relief, and laughingly urged me to confidently proclaim Mitt Romney the winner.

Rick Santorum

Which I won't do, as I think Santorum is in fact slightly more likely to prevail. Or maybe I shouldn't say so, so as not to jinx him? But isn't running into Santorum a good omen? Or does my very noting of the omen-like encounter here make it an ominous one for Rick? (I assume the word “ominous” derives from “omen.”)

Who knows? It's all too confusingly post-modern for me. But then again, the whole GOP nominating contest so far has been confusingly post-modern. Why stop now? In any case, my basic analysis of the race remains what it was a month ago (when, I'd remind all the confident pundits you'll hear prognosticating tomorrow night and Wednesday, Santorum was in low single digits in Iowa and pretty much everyone expected him to stay there): We do not know.

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Article TAGS:

2012, 2012 Elections, Iowa, Iowa caucus, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, We Do Not Know

 

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