Gingrich polling in first place nationally

Jed Lewison at Daily Kos has the new national Gallup poll:

Gallup for USA Today. November 13-17. Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters. ±4%. (No trend.)

Newt Gingrich: 22

Mitt Romney: 21

Herman Cain: 16

Ron Paul: 9

Rick Perry: 8

Michele Bachmann: 4

Jon Huntsman: 1

Rick Santorum: 1

As Lewison points out, this is a volatile field, with only Mitt Romney staying consistently at the top. Gingrich's chances of staying in the lead seem diminished in light of the last week's opposition research dump on him - specifically the fact that he was a lobbyist and advisor for Freddie Mac for almost a decade and his think tank supported the individual mandate.

You would think that consistency is a big plus for Romney. While I generally think that the frequent changes to who is on top suggests that Romney's stability is a big asset, it's also clear that Republican voters have been on an endless search for the Not Romney candidate. That person could still emerge from outside the field. Or Romney can win by simply being the last man standing in a field of imperfect ideologues.