"But the question people keep asking... is why that consolidation [behind Rubio] isn’t happening already."

"If Rubio is actually the front-runner" — once you look beyond the not-really-real Trump and Carson — "shouldn’t a few more big donors be drifting from Jeb’s camp into his? Shouldn’t a few more debate-watching voters be saying to themselves, and then to pollsters: The Donald is fun and I admire Carson, but let’s get real: I’m going to vote Rubio? I think they will. I predict they will."

Writes Ross Douthat, saying something close to what I've been blogging (here and here) and then ending his column with something I haven't blogged but have been saying around the house: "But in the event they don’t, I’m guessing that Mitt Romney is still ready to serve."