What happens if Hillary finishes third in Iowa? Where’s Huckabee’s ceiling in Iowa? (Combined Keyes/Bauer vote in 2000 suggests it’s around 23% for impractical social conservative candidates, but Huckabee is a better performer than they were.) If Huck keeps rising, does Romney have to go negative on him, or can surrogates do it? If Romney does go negative, does that create an up-the-middle opening for Fred, Rudy, or McCain in Iowa? (And come to think of it, why doesn’t anyone ever call McCain “John”?) If Rudy is in the high 20′s nationwide, how possibly does he win when the field consolidates? And what happens to his national numbers if he starts losing early primaries in big batches? What happens to his numbers against Hillary, which have been one of his big advantages? If he does lose the early primaries and still wins big states on Feb. 5 will he, by that time, look like the moderate Republican spoiler in the race even if his delegates count is big? Hmmm, could Richelieu be right? Finally, is there a political season in recent memory that has held so much promise for being utterly unpredictable and riveting as a sheer matter of punditry?