In the cartoon there is a man holding and etch a sketch in his hands  His shirt says voters on the back.  The border of the toy has the phrase "Mitt Romeny's Core Principles."  In a speech bubble the man says "the knobs on the etch a sketch don't do anything."  This cartoon is referring to something Romney said recently in a campaign speech that a politician has right to shake up their profile and start a new, similar to how a etch a sketch erases a message.  This means that politicians make mistakes and that it is okay if they change their views to reflect what is prevalent in the country or if a significant and resonable event causes a politician to have an epiphany or atleast come up with a better solution to the situation at hand.  The real irony is that Romney has been considered a flip flopper.  Throughout the invisible primary and even up to the present, he has changed his mind on his pro-choice platform, on his immigration platform, and most especially on his viewpoint of healthcare.  The purpose of all this change is to move to the more conservative end of the spectrum and appeal to the ture conservatives of the Republican Party in the primary season.  The irony upon ironies is that the voter says that these knobs are not creating change in Romeny's ideological views.  This shows the naivity and uneducation of voters today.  They are not involved in politicis enough to know the backgrounds of the candidates or know exactly what they stand for.  The majority of voters do not vote prospectively or intelligently but on whims or due to bandwagon appeal.  This is definitely from a liberal standpoint or from Gingrich or Santorum trying to show the holes and gaps in the Romney campaing and Romneys ideas for improving the country in general.

     The title of the cartoon says "The Final Four."  Paul, Gingrich, Santorum, and Romney are all on a basketball court.  In college basketball, the top 64 teams in the country play in a tournament to compete for the national title and become the best team of the year.  The final four is when there are only four teams left, the semifinals, probably the most well known stage of the tournament according to the catchy phrase.  In the Republican horse race there are also four candidates left, however they are not evenly matched as depicted by the cartoon.  Ron Paul is playing croquet on the basketball court, clueless of what is taking place.  He is focused only on what he assumed they were gathered there for.  Gingrich is also confused, thinking that he showed up for a debate.  He is angry at the humiliation he is experiencing.  He is more alert, and standing up instead of slouching like Paul.  Gingrich has a determined look on his face to compete.  Santorum is the most prepared besides Romney.  Santorum is actually wearing recreational attire, and has a basketball to go along with his outfit.  Although he is still confused, beleiving that the basketball game was only half court.  On the contrary, Romney is wearing a complete uniform and jersey.  He is dunking a ball on stilts which is obviously against the rules.  This directly relates with the primary race.  Their spot in the race is exactly where they stand on the courts.  Paul is not worried about winning the nomination, but Gingrich lacks organization and elitist support, Santorum does not watch what he says, and Romney is at the top because he raises the most money and the best organization.  Romney is on stilts because Romney is not conservative enough, he is merely the defaylt candidate even if he does not follow the party platform, or the rule of basketball in this case.  This is from a independent ideological standpoint because this is an objective analysis of where the candidates stand currently in the polls and their amounts of delegates.