Can't remember if it was Woody Allen or Lily Tomlin who said, "No matter how cynical you are, it's never enough to keep up," but this GOP race, especially the spectacle of Romney's decline/ascent/decline/ascent, would have both Allen and Tomlin smacking themselves in the head, regardless of who actually said it. Romney ALWAYS was going to be the GOP nominee... ALWAYS was going to have spirited attacks against him that were going to be viewed, first, as a test of his mettle when they were launched and then proof that he had the requisite gonads when he repelled them... ALWAYS was going to be able to "thank" his opponents on the convention floor in Tampa (all of whom, including Gingrich, who will be there, locked arm-in-arm, covered in confetti and sanctimony) for waging a tough campaign that only made him and the case against Obama stronger... ALWAYS was going to be allowed to swat back claims of his religion and time with Bain and his millions as a an attempt to place the "class warfare" card ... ALWAYS was going to appear on the cover of TIME (wait for it), looking tan and fit, under some headline about "The Mitt Nobody Knows"--that his defeat of Gingrich or Cain or Perry or Bachman or Paul or Santorum or Trump (for Chrissakes!) is going to be characterized as anything other than thata foregone conclusion (does the GOP ever nominate someone who's not next in line?) is made worse by the fact that everyone, including Romney and the media and other candidates, knew it. 

This wasn't Kabuki Theatre; this was an industrial film.