By Bill Schneider

Happiness in politics is a divided opposition.

That’s what Confucius would say if he were around to analyze the race for the Republican nomination. Jon Huntsman is probably saying it in Chinese.

By that standard, the happiest person around is Mitt Romney. He’s coasting to the Republican nomination on the strength of a divided opposition. In the Gallup tracking poll, only 30 percent of Republicans nationwide say Romney’s their choice. But look at the rest of the field: Newt Gingrich 18 percent, Rick Santorum 17 percent, Ron Paul 12 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Huntsman in single digits.

The New Hampshire campaign was a race between Romney and a candidate called “expected.” Would Romney do better than expected, worse than expected or about as well as expected? Answer: At 39 percent, he did better than expected. Enough to sustain his position as front-runner and presumptive nominee.

The other candidates are all factional contenders.

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