In 1948, then-Congressman Lyndon Johnson of Texas, who was under the distinct impression he had a special Senate election stolen from him in 1941, tried a second time for the Senate.

The election was close, there were reports of hanky-panky, but in the end LBJ was declared the winner by 87 votes. As a result, he won the nickname of “Landslide Lyndon.”

Now here come the Iowa Caucuses of 2012.

There are no hints of irregularities. But there are angry charges from Newt Gingrich that Mitt Romney is a “liar,” this resulting from a few million dollars worth of anti-Gingrich ads that were run against Newt in Iowa. In short, the charge is that the Romney campaign needed to throw mud to win.

Generally this kind of thing happens when the candidate is philosophically rudderless and is running a personality-based campaign.

So the question arises.

If, as Gingrich charges, the Romney campaign threw mud to win — but only managed to win by 8 votes — does this mean Romney wins a new version of LBJ’s mocking nickname?

Has “Landslide Lyndon” become “Mudslide Mitt”?

Just asking.