So the Republican candidate is going to be Romney, "balanced" with a suitably rabid culturally conservative VP pick to be announced at a later date. Sound familiar?

The first challenge will be winning the primary - I thought the whole premise of the Tea Party was to stop guys like Romney from getting the Republican nomination? Of course, the spin machine will be working hard for the next 6 months to tell Republicans that they are to like Romney, and I suspect that they will do what they are told.

If Romney looses the primary because the Tea Party doesn't succumb to the spin machine, the Republicans will loose the election, because their candidate will be too radical and too incompetent to win.

If, however, the Tea Party is brought in line and Romney wins, this could be an interesting election season. Obama's failure to do a large enough stimulus should be his undoing.

The problem the Republicans face is that they are a stuck clock - low taxes. Low taxes are sometimes the right thing to do for the economy. They are not the right thing to do for the economy at this time.

However, most people don't understand that. They do understand that a lot of people are out of work and they're not making enough money. The question is who they will blame?