If Romney wins, is it already over?

It seems every political writer, reporter and host is in the state this week, as the nation's first votes to find a republican nominee commences here Tuesday night. The final Des Moines Register poll, released last night, shows Mitt Romney with a small lead in a tight 3-way race for the top, with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich placed a more distant 4th with only 12%. Should results hold, it's seen as a big boost for Romney who holds a substantial lead in next stop's New Hamphshire, just a week later. A non-incumbent has never won both Iowa and New Hampshire in the same year, since the GOP Iowa caucuses began to matter in 1980. The Christian Science Monitor says that if that happens, it "may be game over." Writing for the Monitor, reporter Linda Feldmann says "Romeny will have a lock on the Republican nomination, as the only candidate with momentum, big money, a national organization and substantial room for growth in his numbers." With candidates like Newt Gingrich in Virginia failing to even qualify for the ballot in the state he resides, internal organization questions abound for all besides Romney in whether there is an alternative candidate with the structure to compete for the duration of the primary process.