The 2012 presidential race is slipping away from Republicans

The Republican  Party remains in a state of chaos — facing the increasingly realistic  possibility of the first “brokered” convention in more than fifty years.

Mitt  Romney — having won narrowly this weekend at CPAC and in Maine — is now  turning his guns on Rick  Santorum, whose resurgence last week in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota  cost Romney his front-runner status yet again.

And none of the GOP contenders have offered positive  messaging on why they should be president or produced detailed proposals for how  they would get America going again, create jobs, revitalize the economy, balance  the budget and restore America’s leadership in the world.

Meanwhile, the clear winner is President Obama — as  evidenced by the latest poll numbers.

Indeed, the president appears to have dodged a  bullet with his compromise on the contraception issue and has now put forth a  budget that certainly hits all the right notes politically — speaking to  short-term stimulus and long-term deficit reduction.

The president’s approval rating is up to 50 percent  in the Washington  Post/ABC News and Rasmussen polls, and he leads both Romney and Santorum by  6-10 points in the latest trial heats.

Put simply, the 2012 presidential race is slipping  away from the Republicans.

And victory for President Obama will only grow more  and more inevitable, unless the Republican contenders recognize that the nature  of the race is fundamentally changing.