A shocker: Romney outpolls Hair in Texas

According to at least one polling outfit, if a Republican presidential primary burst out in Texas today, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney would come out ahead with 24 percent of the vote. Not only that, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would come in second with 23 percent, outdistancing the two Texans in the race, neither of which are even "formers." Guv Hair comes in third with 18 percent, Rick Santorum is fourth with 15 percent and Texas congressman Ron Paul collects 12 percent.

Now I call that a shocker because back last September this same poll gave Hair a 49-10 percent advantage over Romney.

But, wait! There’s even more bad news for the guv. If the race was just between Romney and Hair, the New Englander wins 46-45 percent. Well, you say, that’s really too close to call. But consider this: Last September that same two candidate poll had Hair in front 72-18. That’s a seismic shift away from the guv.

The poll also took the temperature in the U.S. Senate primary and discovered, to no one’s surprise, that David Dewhurst has a double digit lead over his nearest competitor, but not enough support to avoid a runoff. The poll measures Dewhurst support at 36 percent (down 5 percentage points from the last poll). Ted "Tea Party" Cruz is second with 18 percent, Tom "Da Mayor" Leppert is third with 7 percent, poor Craig James can only muster 4 percent and then there are the complete unknowns bringing up the rear.