Jeff Greenfield compares Newt Gingrich to the Black Knight of Monty Python and the Holy Grail fame.

“As his limbs are progressively hacked off, the knight declares ’tis but a scratch! Then: ‘a flesh wound!’ And finally: ‘Alright, we’ll call it a draw.’ With barely a tenth of the delegates so far allocated, victories in two of 26 contests, and polling at 13 percent in Gallup’s latest survey of GOP voters, Gingrich’s rationale for remaining in the race is, to put it mildly, elusive.”

Meanwhile, a new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds 61% of Republican voters want Gingrich to exit the race.

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A new Pew Research Center poll shows that 55% of people were entirely unaware of a Mitt Romney aide’s Etch-A-Sketch comments last week.

The Fix: “The numbers serve as a reminder — for the umpteenth time — that simply because 100 percent of people who do politics for a living (the Fix included) are closely following a story, it’s no guarantee that the story is penetrating nearly as broadly among the general public.”

A new Marquette Law School poll in Wisconsin finds Gov. Scott Walker (R) is locked in a very tight recall race with two potential Democratic challengers, Tom Barrett (D) and Kathleen Falk (D).

Walker edges Barrett, 47% to 45%, and leads Falk 49% to 45%.

Said pollster Charles Franklin: “I don’t think you need the poll to know this is going to be a very close race.”

In a potentially shocking development, Boston Mayor Tom Menino (D) told WBZ-TV that he’s not taking sides in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, potentially signalling his support for Sen. Scott Brown (R) over Elizabeth Warren (D).

Said Menino: “When you vote, it’s a secret ballot.”

When pressed, he added: “I’m not with anybody at this time. At this time, I’m still not involved in the campaign.”

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A new Marquette Law School poll in Wisconsin shows Mitt Romney leading Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential race, 39% to 31%, with Ron Paul at 11% and Newt Gingrich at 5%.

The Wisconsin primary is April 3.

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Nebraska finds Democrats are actually in a much worse position with Bob Kerrey (D) as their U.S. Senate candidate than they would have been with Sen. Ben Nelson (D), and that Jon Bruning (R) is now a strong favorite in the general election.

Bruning leads Kerry by a stunning 17 points, 54% to 37%.

Key finding: “Kerrey’s campaign rollout has not been a success. In October his favorability rating in the state was a +5 spread at 39/34. Since then it’s dropped 20 points on the margin to -15 at 36/51.”

Mitt Romney tells the Weekly Standard that he’d eliminate some federal agencies if he’s elected president, but he won’t say which ones.

Said Romney: “One of the things I found in a short campaign against Ted Kennedy was that when I said, for instance, that I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, that was used to suggest I don’t care about education. So I think it’s important for me to point out that I anticipate that there will be departments and agencies that will either be eliminated or combined with other agencies… but I’m not going to give you a list right now.”

Jonathan Chait summarizes: “One of the things I have found in previous elections is that announcing my plans makes people want to vote against me!”

National Journal notes that if Mitt Romney “ends up falling just short of the votes he would need to win the nomination, he can turn to an unlikely, if somewhat ironic, source of untapped delegates: The members of the Republican National Committee — the closest thing Republicans have to super delegates.”

There are still 81 RNC members who have not yet said how they will vote when the gavel comes down in Tampa, including the entire delegations of Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington state.

Politico has more details on the renovation of Mitt Romney’s California beach house — previously found to have a planned 3,600 square foot basement — and notes he’s also looking to build a “split-level, four-vehicle garage that comes with a ‘car lift’ to transport automobiles between floors.”

“A project this ambitious comes with another feature you don’t always find with the typical fixer-upper: its own lobbyist, hired by Romney to push the plan through the approval process.”

“Political yard signs and bumper stickers are plentiful in Wisconsin these days. They just don’t carry the names Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum,” Bloomberg writes.

“Wisconsin Republicans are more focused on protecting their incumbent governor, Scott Walker, from recall than on the April 3 presidential primary in their state. Romney and Santorum have to convince party activists to focus some attention on them rather than solely on trying to protect Walker’s job in the recall election tentatively set for June 5, a vote triggered by anger over anti-union legislation the governor signed last year.”

Since the Republican primaries began, the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future has spent $35 million on commercials attacking Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, Bloomberg reports.

The group has spent just $1.1 million promoting Romney, the data shows.