Around this time last week, we gave the fickle Republican base voters 10 days to start getting over this Herman Cain thing and commence with the "Gingrich Surge," "Newtmentum," "The Newtening," "Fat Head Makes Good" — whatever you prefer. With three days to go, it looks like they're complying. We were just screwing around. Oops!

Two national polls out today show Gingrich right up there with Cain and Mittens. McClatchy-Marist puts Romney in first with 23%, Gingrich in second with 19%, and Cain in third with 17%. And Newt's people actually like him:

Among the top tier, Gingrich has the most committed supporters. The poll found that 43 percent of his supporters said they are firmly committed to his candidacy. For Romney, that figure is 30 percent. For Cain, it is 31 percent.

CBS' poll, meanwhile, has Cain at 18% with Romney and Gingrich tied at 15%. While Cain is doing better in that one, it nonetheless shows that his problems with the ladyfolk are... mounting:

Cain has lost support among women since late October. Then, he led among women, garnering 28 percent of their support. Now, his support among women is just 15 percent.

And who could women love better than Newt Gingrich?

If this Gingrich thing holds up and he stays competitive throughout the primaries, then we — along with every other human — will have to eat some crow for sure. But keep in mind that the other candidates haven't even bothered to attack Gingrich in this campaign yet. There are approximately 10,000,000 pages worth of opposition research against Newt Gingrich available, if he becomes problematic.

[Image via AP]