Is the race for the Republican nomination Mitt Romney's to lose? Will Sarah Palin ever decide whether to run, and can Michelle Bachmann pull a Mike Huckabee at the Iowa stroll poll next month? Can any of these candidates defeat President Obama, even at a time of growing unemployment? Matt Malone, S.J., former associate editor and keen observer of the U.S. political scene, analyzes the field as the race for 2012 gathers steam.