Just give Mitt Romney the nomination and be done with it

By Richard K. Barry

When do we get to say the Republican presidential nomination race is over? Is it when Santorum loses his home state of Pennsylvania, because that looks like it might just happen, or so some recent polling is starting to indicate?

A Franklin & Marshall College poll out this week has Rick Santorum nearly tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania, which is also showing that Santorum's support is eroding.

Here's the technical stuff:

The poll of 505 registered Republican voters, conducted March 20-25 in conjunction with the Tribune-Review and other media outlets, shows Santorum clinging to a small lead over Romney, 30 percent to 28 percent, within the poll's 4.2 percent margin of error.

And now, as Nate Silver is reporting at FiveThirtyEight, polls are showing Romney on track to win in Wisconsin, a state, Silver notes, that once seemed relatively favourable for Rick Santorum:

A survey from Marquette University, released on Tuesday, gave Mr. Romney an eight-point lead in the state. That is a slightly smaller margin than the one in an earlier Rasmussen Reports poll, which had put Mr. Romney 13 points ahead.

I even noticed today that if Romney falls short of the magic number of 1,144 delegates to win the nomination, he may be able to count on 120 uncommitted Republican National Committee super-delegates to put him over the top.

As Daily Kos writes, actually referring to a National Journal article:

Technically, there are actually 168 super delegates, but 15 of those super delegates can't vote because their states voted early, breaking RNC rules, and 33 of them are bound to support the winner of their state's primary or caucus. That means there's really only 120 super delegates in the traditional sense. Those 120 insiders have the power to put Mitt Romney over the top, if they need to do so, they almost certainly will.

Not to get into details, but this is just one more tool in Mitt Romney's kit to ensure he will be his party's nominee. If push comes to shove, or, I should say, when push comes to shove, the GOP establishment will be there to bail Mitt out. Of course they will.

You know, it wasn't even my intention to get into the weeds about why Romney will win the nomination. After Michigan and Ohio, that was a done deal. Most Republicans, even those who aren't very happy about it, are now pretty clear in their minds that Romney will carry the banner for their party.

The only question for me is how the pundits will fill their time over the coming months. I'm bored by the GOP race. I want Romney to be the guy because I am convinced that when he is the sole focus of attention he will implode. Hard to believe that anyone in the country is unaware of Mitt Romney and his failings as an effective mouthpiece for the conservative cause, or any cause, that anyone hasn't seen his pathetic attempt at being a politician, but a lot of people just don't pay attention.

When they do pay attention to Romney, most don't like what they see. The numbers are pretty clear on that. I also know that as a Democrat I should want the GOP race to continue. I should want Santorum and Gingrich and even Paul to be there to throw mud at Mitt. I'm just tired of it.

Please let it be over soon. I am convinced that Romney can destroy his chances of winning the general election all by himself without any help from his Republican challengers. I'm sure of it.

Let Mitt be Mitt, all alone on the stage, and let him fail miserably.

Let the games begin.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)