After his surprisingly strong nine point victory in Michigan, Mitt Romney now has a small leg up in the Republican presidential campaign. The GOP race is still so chaotic that it would be folly to call him the frontrunner, but somebody has to win this thing. Romney, the chameleon candidate, has the money and, finally, the message that could carry him to some big wins on Super Tuesday.

Of course the big winner in Michigan is the Democratic Party. If Romney had lost, he would have been finished. But now he'll be spending millions of dollars pounding his fellow Republicans on-the-air in more than 20 states, further eroding the GOP brand when it's already in trouble. And should he beat John McCain for the nomination, his lack of appeal to independents will make it easier for the Democratic nominee in November.

So just as many Republican strategists are rooting for Hillary Clinton, who is also weak among independents, Democrats want to square off with Romney.

It's his money that gives him the advantage. In many Super Tuesday states, he'll be the only Republican with deep enough pockets to get any notice. The candidate who can afford to run nationally will, not surprisingly, rack up more delegates than the competition.

While Romney benefited greatly from his family ties to Michigan (he was raised there, the son of a popular governor),  McCain won't be able to discount Romney's success as a home-state victory. After two "silver medals," in Romney's words, in Iowa and New Hampshire, and an overlooked victory in Wyoming, Michigan was must-win. It's a big enough state with a big enough cross-section of voters to be meaningful.

And Michigan, where the economy is suffering, is representative of American middle class anxieties. Romney's success in business and more responsive answers to the trauma of the auto industry trumped McCain, who admitted that he knows little about the economy and relies on Alan Greenspan, a comment that would haunt him in the general election should he be the nominee.

Romney has shifted his persona from panderer to outsider. Every other word out of his mouth these days is an Obama-style jab at Washington business as usual. For a second-generation politician and quintessential country-club Republican to attack "lobbyists" (his father was one) is, well, rich.

When I asked Romney in New Hampshire about McCain, he said, "McCain IS Washington." It sounds preposterous that a maverick like McCain could be successfully depicted as a Beltway hack, but McCain gives Romney ammo when he's seen on election night on TV with aging Washington fixtures like Joe Lieberman, a Democrat-turned-independent.

Michigan, where McCain beat George W. Bush in 2000 even after a defeat in South Carolina, is an open primary that allows independents to vote without changing registration. Given that, McCain should have done much better there. Same for Mike Huckabee, who didn't perform nearly as well as expected with Michigan's many evangelical voters. Rudy Giuliani, for whom independents are also critical, finished below even Ron Paul.

The problem for McCain is that most Republican primaries are closed, which means that independents must re-register as Republicans to take part. Not many will, an advantage for Romney or Huckabee. Of course if those two split the mainstream Republican vote in South Carolina, that could give McCain or Fred Thompson an opening.

But in the big casino on Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney will almost certainly have more chips on more states than anyone else. He'll spend anything and say anything to win, and probably will.