Iowa and New Hampshire polls show Newt Gingrich surge continues unabated

"Looks like I'm gonna' need a bigger line of credit at Tiffany!" (Daron Dean/Reuters)

"Looks like I'm gonna' need a bigger line of credit at Tiffany!" (Daron Dean/Reuters)

In case you missed them, here's the weekend's three big polls:

• Des Moines Register/Selzer & Co. Iowa poll—Newt Gingrich up by 9 over Ron Paul: Taking Herman Cain out of the equation, the Iowa Poll found Newt Gingrich on top with 28%, leading second-place Ron Paul (19%) and third-place Mitt Romney (17%).
• NBC/Marist, Iowa—Gingrich up by 9 over Paul and Mitt Romney: Also Cain out of the equation, NBC/Marist found Gingrich at 28% with Paul and Romney tied at 19% each for second.
• NBC/Marist, New Hampshire—Romney leads, but lead shrinks by 17 points: In New Hampshire, Romney leads with 39% to Gingrich's 24%, but that 15-point edge is less than half what it was last month, when he lead Herman Cain and Ron Paul by 32 points.

I don't know if Newt Gingrich is the luckiest guy on earth or he's just done an amazing job of reading the GOP electorate, but whatever it is, he's on fire. And as Politico points out, his strong position with voters is causing GOP politicians who dislike him to bite their tongues, further strengthening his position at the top.

Meanwhile, the small bit of good news for Mitt Romney—that he has a double-digit lead in New Hampshire—is actually not all that good, because his lead is so much smaller today than it was just a few short weeks ago. And in Iowa he's in jeopardy of coming in third, which would be a crushing defeat. Don't forget, in 2008 Mitt Romney won the support of 25% of Iowa caucus-goers, coming in second behind Mike Huckabee. If he does substantially worse than that, it will be a devastating sign of weakness.

Given how this primary has gone, it would be foolish to to predict Gingrich has it wrapped up. He's no more locked this thing down than Mitt Romney was inevitable. Perhaps we might not see a Rick Perry revival (though I'm one of the few people who wouldn't be shocked by that), but the one thing we absolutely know is that things can change, and fast. But for now, Gingrich is solidly on top.