Rick Santorum dropped out of the Republican primary race on Tuesday, April 10, clearing the way for Mitt Romney to take the nomination.
Santorum was the last opponent threatening Romney for the nomination, and he experienced a surge after several other candidates dropped out of the race and after winning a few key contests. However, as Santorum rose to prominence in the primary race, some believed he was not a very serious threat to Romney.
Rob Mellen, political science professor at MSU, said the split between traditional conservative candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich hampered Santorum’s ability to present a more serious threat to Mitt Romney. By staying in the race, Gingrich took delegates in states that could have helped Santorum challenge Romney for the nomination.
Delegates are representatives awarded after each primary contest that vote for a nominee at a party’s convention, similar to the Electoral College used in presidential elections. To clinch the nomination, a candidate needs 1,144 delegates. According to The Wall Street Journal Romney currently has 684 delegates, more than half of the amount needed. Santorum, Romney’s closest competitor, had 267.
Two more candidates remain to oppose Romney: Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Neither is a serious contender for the nomination at this point, even though both could remain in the race all the way to late August, when the Republican party holds its convention in Tampa, Fla.
“It’s hard to say,” Mellen said. “There is no reason for either of them to concede if their goal is to have a voice at the convention in Tampa.  So, I guess, no, I don’t see either of them officially bowing out, though Gingrich has done so without officially saying it. It is possible that Gingrich will benefit in Arkansas and Texas from Santorum’s withdrawal; I doubt he will be able to put up any kind of serious front against Romney, however.”
Mellen also said at this point, the party base, which has tried several times through the primary season to find a more traditionally-conservative candidate than Romney, has likely accepted he will be the nominee, clearing the way for a quiet end to the primary.
While the primary draws to a close, the Romney campaign will have to begin turning its sights to focus on the general election against President Obama.
Mellen said the extended primary season and all the money expenditures required might prove hurtful to the Romney campaign.
He also said it may not matter if forecasts of both sides spending over half a billion dollars for the campaign turn out to be true.
He said the long primary might be helpful to the Obama campaign.
“It allowed them to avoid spending huge sums of money in February and March against Romney, though they did do some ads,” he said. “That is the major advantage for an incumbent … he gets to keep acting presidential instead of campaigning in earnest. Plus, Republican infighting has provided the Obama campaign with lots of material for ads against Romney.”