Mitts on: Republican contender emerges

After 18 months of name calling and mud-slinging, the Republican Partys race for a Presidential nominee appears set for a rather anti-climatic end. Rick Santorums sudden exit from the race on Tuesday has all but assured that Mitt Romney will be the Republican challenger to Barrack Obama in the upcoming US Presidential elections.
Strictly in terms of numbers, the race is still far from over. In order to secure the Republican nomination for the Presidential race, a candidate must secure the support of a majority of the 2,286 delegates to the GOP National Convention.
According to the Associated Press, Mitt Romney had gathered 664 delegates behind him by Thursday. That leaves him 484 delegates shy of the 1,148 delegate-tally needed to secure the nomination.
However now that his closest competitor (Santorum) who had the support of 285 delegates, has stepped down, Romney appears to have a clear lead on Newt Gingrich (136 delegates) and Ron Paul (51 delegates).
Political pundits continue to draw on references from previous elections to speculate that the Republican row may yet take new turns. But the Obama camp already has Romney in its crosshairs.
An email to the Presidents supporters by Obama for America campaign manager Jim Messina announced on Tuesday night that, "Mitt Romney is almost certainly our opponent in this election".
Soon afterwards, the Obama camp released a video, which should be considered a prelude of the attacks Romney shall face, leading up to the Presidential elections, this fall. The video by Obamas "truth team" is a collection of statements by Romney where he stressed his "severely conservative" socio-economic stance.
In the days to come, Democrats will project Romney as a supporter of Big Business, while Obama pushes for higher taxes on corporations and rich individuals through the Buffett rule.
Romneys affiliation with the Utah-based Mormon Church will likely draw attention as well. This minority sect of Christianity was established in the 1820s and many mainstream pastors in the United States regard it as an obscure cult.
So far the republicans had been mostly busy squabbling among themselves. Now that there is a clear front runner for the Republican candidacy, the gloves are coming off and Presidential campaigns are about to get rough!