Santorum Is Out

So, it’s official. Or at least as official as it can be without being formally announced: Mitt Romney will be the Republican Presidential nominee come this fall. If you’ve been following the election at all these past few months then that really shouldn’t be a surprise to you, since he was the frontrunner and presumptive nominee from the very beginning of the primary campaigns. While all of the potential nominees experienced their own small peaks in approval ratings, all of them eventually dropped out of the race, leaving Romney as the sole viable Republican candidate standing.

reddogreport.com

There are still quite a few primaries left before the Republican National Convention (RNC), which is why no one can technically say that Romney is the “official” nominee, though he certainly is in everything but name. Newt Gingrich is still on the ballot in many states, and although Rick Santorum has officially suspended his campaign, he has not said that he is dropping out (although the writing has been on the wall for those two for a long time). The Pennsylvania primary is Tuesday after next, April 24^th and some voters will likely still vote for Gingrich and Santorum even though they are both out of the race. However, at this point it isn’t even a race because the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

This really has no purpose. I just find the misspelling amusing.

In terms of what all this means for the fall, Santorum suspending (and effectively ending) his campaign is both good and bad news for President Obama. It’s good because he now knows who his opponent in the general election will be, but it’s bad because Mitt Romney is a much more electable candidate than Rick Santorum. If Rick Santorum, as the result of some freak accident, won the nomination Obama would barely even need to campaign come fall. Santorum’s position is too far right for him to receive virtually any moderates and swing voters. All in all, it will be an exciting campaign come fall.