It’s stories like these that make Phil Klein’s scenario of a 50-state Mitt Romney primary sweep seem more and more plausible. As low as Rick Perry’s poll numbers have been in the rest of the country, it was just assumed he still had a strong cheering section in Texas – he is, after all, the only candidate out of the lot who is currently governing an entire state.

But even in Texas, Romney is starting to look inevitable. He’s now leading Perry by six points, after Perry’s incredible 39-point lead collapsed:

Rick Perry’s presidential campaign is doing about as bad in Texas now as it is everywhere else in the country. When PPP last polled the state in September he was at 49%, leading Mitt Romney by 39 points.  Now Perry’s support has declined by 31 points, leaving him in 3rd place at 18%. Mitt Romney at 24% and Newt Gingrich at 23% lead the way with Rick Santorum at 15%, Ron Paul at 12%, and Buddy Roemer at 0% rounding out the field behind Perry.

If the other candidates were going to have a leg-up anywhere, you would think it would be in their own states, right? Fortunately, Perry probably won’t stick around long enough to have to go through the embarrassment of losing his own state primary in April. But this poll doesn’t provide much hope for a dramatic or drawn-out race. If Romney’s now leading the field in a true red state like Texas, he’ll certainly have the squishier northeast races locked up.