The elephant is slowly awakening

WaPo's Karen Tumulty writes: "A parade of long-shot candidates was warmly received by thousands of GOP activists meeting [in New Orleans] for the Republican Leadership Conference, but the rank-and-file is focused on who can beat Obama." It seems the GOP elephant is slowly awakening to reality. That's good news for Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman, the three GOP candidates not from Crazytown USA. Much of the political press remains adrift in a wet dream about Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry seizing the nomination. Some deluded pundits refuse even to discount the entrance of the craziest denizen of Crazytown: Sarah Palin. It's not going to happen. Party adults know Obama will likely be reelected, probably by a decent margin, despite a sluggish economy. (It if suddenly takes off by Election Day, he'll win by a landslide.) As I see it, the GOP wants to avoid looking foolish when its nominee craters in 2012, reclaim the sensible political center (by pushing the Tea Party in front of the train), and lay the groundwork for a winning ticket in 2016. If this scenario plays out, Jon Huntsman will be sitting pretty when the smoke clears.