No, not the mighty Mississippi. Momentum. That force that propels the incredible into the inevitable and then onto reality. The force that sometimes starts out quietly – almost imperceptively – and then suddenly it becomes overwhelmingly irresistible as it crashes into the immoveable object.

We are at the threshold of just such a crash.

Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection put up a very interesting set of polls today – the first one asking you to select your favorite candidate from the current list of Republican wannabes. With over 2200 votes tallied, Herman Cain is leading with 49% of the responses; Perry comes in a distant second at 21%, and Romney at just under 10% is third. Gary Johnson and Ron Paul split the “so far right they’re left” fringe at about 2.5% each and Huntsman brings up the rear with a whopping 16 votes – .72%

Ok – no big shock there, especially after the debate last Thursday and the straw poll in Florida yesterday. The folks do not want Mitt Romney as their president. They just aren’t into him. They’ve flirted with Bachmann and even danced with Perry, but so far they aren’t showing much interest in going steady with the newest version of a compassionate conservative from Texas.

With the chorus of political strategists clammering for yet another “flavor of the month”, apparently there is an opportunity for one more East Coast, liberal establishment darling to enter the race. Toss in Chris Christie. But just to make things interesting, the good professor also included Sarah Palin in his second poll.

Guess what happened???

Yep – Huntsman lost 13 of those 16 votes he got in the first poll to keep a lock on last place; Romney ducked under the 4% threshold; Johnson and Paul don’t quite reach the 1.5% mark; Cain hangs on in second place; and the Kid from Jersey knocks Perry to fourth place by a healthy 4 percentage points. The novelty factor, as it were. But not to worry – just like Ben & Jerry’s new ice cream flavor “Schweddy Balls”, he’s a flash in the pan. Something to talk about at the water cooler for a day or two until the next political joke hits the email.

Who sucked all the oxygen out of the room?

You betcha – with over 57% of the votes, the hands-down favorite was – ta-da – Sarah Palin.

It will take a while before the LSM and the “establishment” understand what has hit them. No problem. Sarah is more than a phenomenon – she’s a force of nature. And the force is with her.

Consider Professor Jacobson’s poll an early warning alert.

For those of you who want to get on board the wave of the future, join us over at Montanans 4 Palin. We’re just starting up, but we plan to leverage the momentum as it starts in Iowa, continues to New Hampshire, crosses the country to Nevada and then to Arizona, South Carolina, and Michigan.