The Republican nomination: It's showtime. The Republicans are, at last, seriously getting on with choosing a candidate to take on Barack Obama next year. IT HAS been said so often that it has come to look self evident. But is the Republican field in the race for next year's presidential election really so weak? Democrats said much the same about their own candidates in 1991, only to see Bill Clinton capture the White House. True, Americans take a dim view of the field so far, if recent surveys by the Pew Research Centre and the Washington Post are to believed. Only 25% had a good impression of the likely candidates. Many stars have decided to sit this race out. But this week brought a surprise. Less than a week after announcing that he was running again, Mitt Romney, who came second to John McCain in 2008, found himself head to-head, at 47% each, against Barack Obama in a Washington Post / ABC poll. Maybe the president is not unassailable after all. That said, Mr Romney is the clear front runner. The others have a lot of ground to make up before they can match his combination of name recognition and financial resources. Consider Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota.
