April 7

On this Passover and Easter weekend, most Americans are spending time with their families, and the action on the Presidential campaign front is also kind of slow, as the candidates are doing the same.

Nonetheless, the Republican Presidential nomination contest progressed even further this past week to an inevitable conclusion as Mitt Romney, in addition to easy landslide wins in the District of Columbia and Maryland took Wisconsin by five percentage points and continued to pile on the delegates.

It is clearer than ever that Governor Romney is about to be anointed the standard bearer of the GOP, as he pivots towards more of a general election strategy, builds up his national campaign team and organization, and very soon will get quite serious about finding the best possible running mate.

While Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich technically remain in the race, it is clear that they are doing so simply to try to have influence over the party's platform at the convention, and no longer see it as realistic that their names could be placed into nomination on the floor.

The only other candidate who could theoretically see that happen is Rick Santorum, but as he continues to fall further behind the delegate count, many in the party are now calling on him to not delay the inevitable and graciously bow out of the race in favor of Romney.

While he is taking several days off of the campaign trail (and certainly his family deserves well-wishes for the health of their once again hospitalized daughter), Santorum is vowing to stay in the race until Romney formally goes "over the top." However, I have a hunch that Santorum will exit the race, perhaps on Friday, April 20th, if indications are that he is headed towards a loss in his home state of Pennsylvania. While the Santorum campaign dismissed this past Tuesday's results, including from Wisconsin, where they invested much, they have said that Pennsylvania is crucial. Santorum once had a very large lead in the state he represented in the Senate, but momentum in the Keystone State is clearly with Romney, and he has to now be considered the favorite to win there. Beyond Texas, the Santorum team is looking at the delegate rich state of Texas, and even hoping for a change in the rules to allow it to become a winner take all contest.

However, even if that were to be changed, I think that we have finally reached the phase in this process where Republican voters have recognized that Romney is going to be nominated and it is going to be tougher and tougher for Santorum or anyone else to get very far on a "send a message" campaign.

The former Pennsylvania Senator on his Tuesday night speech to supporters made many references to Ronald Reagan's 1976 campaign and how he stayed in when things looked bleak, not to ultimately take the nomination, but to come back four years later. That clearly seems to be where Santorum's head is at. While I dismiss his chances to one day be a leading contender in the Republican Party, if he does want to keep himself viable, he is very likely to step aside sooner rather than later.

One thing is clear, the Obama White House is recognizing they are now in a general election against Mitt Romney, and will be doing everything they can to try to take him out early.

As Republicans continue the process of uniting though, that is likely to be nothing more than wishful thinking at this point.