If it is, many of us didn't see it coming.

In a major boost for John McCain, Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney signaled Wednesday he's not ready to finance a costly campaign in the states holding primaries and caucuses next week.

* * *Several officials said that on the heels of a defeat in Tuesday's Florida primary, Romney's campaign was not attempting to purchase television advertising time in any of the 21 states on the calendar for Feb. 5.

Instead, the former Massachusetts governor's current plans call for campaigning in California and other primary states, said the officials, who had knowledge of the internal discussions. There would be organizational efforts primarily for caucus states.

I'd expected Romney to run hard to a possible brokered convention. But if this is the strategy, it appears he is preparing to concede the race after Super Tuesday -- a rather surprising development. Does the polling data show that the primary voters are going to break that sharply for McCain that the extra effort many of us (especially those of us supporting Mitt from the beginning) had expected would be superfluous? Will Tsunami Tuesday be the last hurrrah for the GOP nomination process?