how is Romney in this position?

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

He is well known, has some stature, is at least somewhat charismatic, looks "presidential", and is willing to radically change his views on the drop of a dime. The media likes to paint him as a "serious candidate", which also gives him a boost among those Republicans who will vote for whoever has the best chance of beating the Democrat, regardless of views.

Does very well among female voters, which gives him a good edge (with just males, I recall Huckabee leading, followed by Paul in some of the recent ones). He seriously lacks substance and depth, though. He doesn't seem to stand for much of anything, and a lot of his previous statements/actions have the potential to sink his campaign. Romneycare doubled with his previous pro-choice stance will be a huge hurdle when opponents start bringing it up (going by some polls, a large portion of the people who support him don't seem to know about either). His attempts to look like a moderate back in '08 are really backfiring now that moderates are being purged. Actually, most of the class of '08 has lost relevancy for that reason, the only two who didn't try to position themselves as moderates are Huckabee (Who isn't running) and Paul (who is a complete wildcard at this point).

His opponents are dropping off like flies right now, which is cloaking the fact that, like Gingrich, his support has been steadily ebbing away as they figure out his history. Mind, he doesn't have a strong field of opposition, which is a benefit for him; Gingrich has as many skeletons in his closet as Romney (sitting on a love couch with Nancy Pelosi, for one), and none of his advantages. Pawlenty is practically unknown, offers nothing new, and is remarkably uncharismatic. Palin relies entirely on publicity, hasn't been trying hard recently, is widely disliked, and has been dropping like a hot potato recently. Bachmann might pick up Palin's support, but it is doubtful that she would manage to do much better than Palin at her peak. Paul's views mean that a portion of GOP voters would prefer seppeku to voting for him in the primaries, and a sizable portion of those who would be willing to support him are worried that he isn't a strong candidate. etc etc

If Romney just held the course and avoided debates, etc as much as possible, he might be able to win a narrow victory against a weaker and divided field, but if one candidate who isn't Gingrich rises to the challenge and becomes a clear opponent to Romney (and it really doesn't matter who so long as they have conservative credentials; Bachmann, Palin, Paul, Cain, T-Paw, whoever), Romney will lose in grand fashion as all of the distinctly un-conservative decisions he has made in the past blow up in his face. Alternatively, it is possible that unfriendly media exposure backed by scattered shots from the opposition simply cause his campaign to fall apart and leave him withdrawing from the race or becoming another chump with less than 6%, which would lead to a potentially very interesting race.

Romney is heavily overrated, though. Principles actually count this season, and Romney lacks them.