When I was a kid...

...there was an ethnic joke about two teams playing a football game. Team 1 was so stupid that when a nearby factory whistle went off they thought it was the end of the game and ran off the field. The punchline? Team 2 scored three plays later.

I'm reminded of that joke by the news that Rick Santorum is officially out of the Republican presidential race making Mitt Romney the all-but-certain GOP nominee. And the point is that -- really -- Romney, like Team 2 in the joke above, ran this year unopposed.

I mean, come on, could you really imagine any of the other 2012 candidates in the Oval Office -- even if you were a Republican? Sarah Palin? Donald Trump? Michele Bachmann? Herman Cain? Rick Perry? Newt Gingrich? Rick Santorum? Ron Paul? (Any other nutcases I'm forgetting?)

Mitt Romney won the nomination because he was the only credible candidate in an incredibly weak year. If the economy continues to improve, he'll get crushed in November.