The tide toward Mitt Romney is definitely turning and the poll numbers coming out of California are currently very favorable showing the Rally for Romney is quickly changing what the MSM is touting as a foregone conclusion that Senator John McCain will sweep the country on Super Tuesday.

In the meantime, there’s an interesting article in the Boston Globe written by veteran campaigner Professor David Sparks that gives clear insight to what may be a likely scenario AFTER tomorrow in which he predicts “THE FAT LADY WON’T SING ON SUPER TUESDAY”

By David Sparks

February 2, 2008 THERE’S A side of me that resists giving career advice to rich successful guys with good hair. That said, there’s still hope, Mitt Romney.

There’s a big difference between the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday. At the end of the Super Bowl, the champion is crowned and the season is over. At the end of Super Tuesday, only half the delegates will have been chosen, with 16 weeks to go.

To be sure, John McCain has the momentum. If the national media could award the nomination today, McCain would be their man. But, there are several factors working against a McCain coronation.

Super Tuesday is a mix of all kinds of states across the country with a mix of winner-take-all and proportional allocation of delegates as well as open (independents welcome) and closed (Republicans only) contests. Western state Mormons could give Romney pockets of strength, as could Northeastern states. Mike Huckabee could be a factor in some Southern states, including Georgia. While McCain’s momentum is a big advantage, the results will likely be mixed instead of a landslide victory.

McCain now has 93 delegates, Romney 59, and Huckabee 40. With Super Tuesday, the delegates will have been selected in the first five weeks at a rate of 238 delegates per week. Afterward, delegates will be squeezed out at a rate of only 64 per week over four months.

At this point, the pace and the dynamics of the campaign change dramatically.

This slowdown will create a huge drought with the political cognoscenti, and the race may begin to lose its national attention, hurting the candidate riding on momentum. The focus of the race will turn more and more to delegate counts. The Republican delegates, those already selected and those yet named, will become very popular.

After a series of “semifinals” in the first five weeks, Romney is where he has wanted to be, in a virtual one-on-one contest against a candidate to the left of him in a nominating process dominated by conservatives. I helped run the primary campaign for George H.W. Bush against Ronald Reagan in 1980. It’s no fun being to the left of your opponent in a Republican race.

McCain presents a political cognitive dissonance to Republican activists. Traditionally, Republicans love the heir apparent and the front-runner status that McCain enjoys. On the other hand, McCain is the piñata of the conservative talk shows and websites across the country, important opinion leaders with the Republican base. There will not be a comfortable coalescing around McCain as the presumptive nominee.

Romney is still sitting on a pot of money. With the contests drawn out and with McCain scrambling with conservative donors, Romney will be able to use his money strategically, cherry-picking in delegate-rich contests.

After Tuesday, the media will target the states they consider important. Tops on their list will be Ohio on March 4. Next to Michigan, which Romney won and which has a similar economy, the Buckeye State will probably be friendly to Romney.

Romney is still due his “Comeback Kid” moment with the voters. McCain was struggling for campaign money and lost members of his staff last summer but made his comeback. Hillary Clinton lost Iowa and battled back in New Hampshire. The media will have second thoughts about ending this race too early. A new-look Romney, perhaps with more humility and a sharpened message, might give his campaign a second wind.

Huckabee looks like the Pat Robertson of this cycle, not a good thing if you are trying to build a broad coalition, but seemingly able to attract a 10 percent to 20 percent niche in most contests.

As the candidate to the right of Romney, Huckabee’s votes might go Romney’s way if he leaves the race. The problem will be the stretch for Huckabee’s base from Conservative Christian to Mormon. It’s still worth seeing how “Romney-Huckabee” looks on a sign.

To be sure, it’s more fun this week in McCain’s headquarters than in Romney’s. But Mitt might have a quarter or two left in his game.

David Sparks is assistant to the dean of the McCormack School of Policy Studies at UMass-Boston. He held senior positions on the 1980 and 1988 Bush for President campaigns.

On Thursday Governor Mitt Romney will give a speech titled “Faith in America” at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas.  The Library and Romney have both stated that the venue should not be seen as an endorsement, per se.  However, it is surmised that having the speech originate from the Bush Library will give the appearance that Romney has the unofficial backing of the Bush clan.

On Monday, Rush Limbaugh had a great monologue about the Liberals looking for someone to run against.  They have invested so much time and effort into running against George W. Bush and he isn’t on the ballot.  This means they need a suitable substitute to be on the ballot in November.

Rush further theorized that they have found that candidate in Mike Huckabee.  Like Bush, Huckabee wears his Christianity on his sleeve and refers often to the positive influence it has had in his life.  The Liberals, right or wrong, believe that this will allow them to paint him as an extension of Bush and persuade people that he will not bring “change” to Washington.

Most conservative Republicans, however, are drawn to the message of faith and see it as a great plus in a candidate.  Consequently, Huckabee’s numbers are shooting up as he and groups supporting him focus on his religion and his conservative social record.  (In fact, Huckabee is so certain of the reception the religion angle will get him, he plays it nearly every chance he gets.  He has worked so hard to ingrain it into his public persona that it has almost become a farce.)

Romney is also a man of deeply held faith.  However, he seems to be barred from expressing it in part by the political implications of being misunderstood.  But also, I think, because of the respect that Governor Romney has for his own and other’s religious convictions.  Unlike Huckabee, Romney is unwilling to make God the butt of his jokes and the tag line for his presidential campaign.

Into this supercharged atmosphere comes the Romney speech.  On Religion.  At the Bush Library.  It would seem that Romney is going to play his trump.  In one morning he could take the place of Huckabee as the “most Bush-like” and of caring most about religious sanctity in the nation.

The tricky thing about politics is that any asset is also a liability.  Anything that can be used to build you up in the eyes of your supporters can also be used to tear you down by your enemies.  Is having the Bush seal of approval going to help or hurt him in the general election?  And what about being openly religious?

Personally, I think that overall it will be an advantage.  I also think that Romney is less concerned with the politics of these questions than he is with being disingenuous.  Don’t get me wrong, Romney’s campaign is definitely calculating the political ramifications of every move he makes.  That said, he will not abandon his values or character simply for political gain.  And this, ultimately, will make him a stronger candidate than what the Democrats will produce.