Why let the political junkies of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have all the fun? The calendar has turned to election year 2012 and it's time to ruminate, deliberate and flat-out speculate about central Minnesota politics. Question No.

NASHUA, N.H. - Mitt Romney is fast becoming the Scrooge McDuck of the 2012 presidential race. In Disney's version, McDuck is Donald Duck's rich uncle, fond of diving into his money bin and swimming through his pile of coins.

WASHINGTON - Iowa front-runners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have a little problem. Both are too nice to be mean to each other. Who can throw the first punch in a tight race growing tighter? This is why God made Newt Gingrich.

Tuesday's New Hampshire primary looms large on the political horizon.

LITTLETON, N.H. - "I think I am a transformational figure," Newt Gingrich told The Washington Post's Dan Balz back in 1994 - before his Republicans won control of the House. Modesty has never been the speaker's strong suit.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - If this is Mitt Romney's idea of a victory rally, one shudders to think what would have happened if he had lost the Iowa caucuses.

DES MOINES - Just a few hours before the Iowa caucuses opened, Don Acheson, a general contractor from West Des Moines, remained as he had been for months: wracked by indecision. First, he had been for Rick Perry, then Newt Gingrich.

WASHINGTON - The great thing about Iowa is that no matter whom the voters select in their neighborhood huddles, it doesn't really matter.

If you've never made a New Year's resolution, you're in the minority: One 2006 study found that more than 80 percent of those surveyed had once promised to, say, eat, smoke or spend less after Jan. 1.

One year ago, the first thing I did as the new publisher was write a column on some of the changes you could expect see at the Dispatch and in the news and information industry going forth.