Mitt should've expected this 3-dog fight

By: Daisy

Fellow canines may sympathize with the smallest member of a multiple-dog household, who sees their food dish placed on the floor, only to have a more aggressive dog swoop in and gulp it down.
This happened to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who wants to be the GOP nominee for president. No sooner had he thought his status was secure after winning the Florida primary, one of his rivals, ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, barged in and won primary contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.
This gives the GOP dogfight a new dynamic. Many so-called human "experts" said it was a two-man race between Romney and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich ... even after Romney kicked Gingrich's butt in Florida ... and even after we learned Santorum, not Romney, won the primary that started it all: Iowa. Yes, Rick Santorum has made this a three-dog fight.
Santorum's alpha-dog qualities helped him push forward. Look at the Tampa, Fla. debate of Jan. 23. Santorum confronted his two main foes, saying:

"My question to Governor Romney and to Speaker Gingrich, if you believe in capitalism that much, then why did you support the bailout of Wall Street, where you had an opportunity to allow destructive capitalism to work, to allow a failure of a -- of a system that needed to fail because people did things that in capitalism pay -- you pay a price?"

Santorum is bellicose in speeches, too. He celebrated his three most recent successes by mocking Romney's approach to the nomination, saying, "Gov. Romney's best attribute is, 'I've got the most money and the best organization.'"
So now the GOP has a "Three Dog Night." It would be instructive to explain the origins of this band name. On cold nights in Australia, it is reportedly an aboriginal custom to dig a hole and sleep with one of my "rels," a dingo. When the mercury drops, you sleep with two dogs ... and when it's freezing, you bring three.
Santorum's coldhearted attacks might freeze out Romney's hopes. Yet if this becomes the political climate for the GOP primaries, the party will freeze out "warm fuzzy"types like myself.

Daisy is a 9-year-old West Highland white terrier living in Cambridge, Mass. Her column runs weekly.