Mr. Nice Guy and More

Mitt Romney is finally having a good week. A new Des Moines Register poll has found him ahead of Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in the key state of Iowa, where Romney is diligently plotting for victory at the Aug. 11 straw poll in Ames to pave his way for victory in the caucuses. By the way, he is ahead by a LOT — he is at 30 percent to McCain’s 18 percent and Rudy’s 17 percent.

With this momentum Romney should probably stop attacking McCain and set his sights on the solid lead Giuliani still holds. Even after the drama at the debates, sparked because Rudy dared to state his real position on abortion, he remains the frontrunner and a new Pew research poll shows social conservatives willing to abide Giuliani’s heretic social views because they think he is a winner.

There is more good news for the Romney campaign: Mitt may be the flip-flopper but polls show the base is buying it. Also, he is now officially the nicest of the Top Three — have you noticed? He smiles constantly, even while bashing McCain in the debates, and it works. Yesterday he said he would likely donate his salary, should he be elected president, to charity. But even better, he deflected an obnoxious Hillary Clinton supporter at a restaurant in Dover, N.H., who loudly declared he wouldn’t vote for a Mormon. Romney reportedly kept on smiling and said, “Can I shake your hand anyway?”

What a guy.