Mitt must find way to excite Republican conservatives

MITT ROMNEY’S whisker-thin Iowa caucus victory was underwhelming in scope and anti-climactic in its finality — but it moved him closer to the Republican presidential nomination chiefly because of who finished fourth and fifth.

The former Massachusetts governor will gladly tout his win over Rick Santorum, who could have reversed the results with one more carload of supporters. More important to Romney, however, was the thumping suffered by former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas governor, Rick Perry.

Republican strategists had seen them as having the best backgrounds to sustain a long-term threat to Romney, who remains unable to push his support beyond one quarter of Republican voters.