A WHO DONE IT

THE MYSTERY OF POLITICS

I read a lot of political news and a lot of mystery novels and during the political season the two begin to blend together. With mysteries the question is Who did it and will the good guys nail him, or her? With politics it's Who will do it, and will voters nail him, or her? In both genres the reader expects to encounter a number of suspects, be faced with the author's misdirections, and read of heart pounding threats to the good guys.

The GOP initially offered up a dozen suspects which over time has been reduced to two, Gingrich and Romney. Almost from the beginning of the novel it seemed that the Obama's good guys had their sights set on Mitt as the “who will do it,” then came a puzzling misdirection more confusing than I'd run into in any of the novels I've read. The Obama campaign ran a powerful anti-Mitt ad exposing the two Mitts trapped in one body. I asked myself if they want to run against Romney why run an ad that will hurt him win the GOP nomination? Then came the Ah Ha! moment. Obama wants to run against Gingrich!

At that point I went back to reading political news and discovered that Independents really, really don't like Newt. In California, 60% of them would vote against him and nationally only 31% of GOP voters have a favorable view of him. So things are turning out just the way the Chicago good guys want them to.

Of course before an “arrest” can be made hard evidence has to be gathered which will convince the jury (voters) that Newt should be locked out of the White House. And, as with any good novel, that evidence only comes in the last chapter; DNA turns up, or a camera catches the suspect with his hand in the till. We're going to have to wait a while before the “authors” reveal that evidence, but it is most likely something other than the million he took as a lobbyist for the mortgage giant, his marital infidelity, or his Tiffany bill. I wish I could flip forward to the last chapter but I'll just have to wait until mid-summer of 2012. And then for the November trial when the jury votes. That's the heart pounding element.