Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks in Portland, Maine.By DAVID ESPO
WASHINGTON – It hasn’t been pretty, but the Republican establishment, the delegate math, the money and more are increasingly lining up in Mitt Romney’s favor in the long and grinding race for the party’s presidential nomination.
The race will go on. Romney’s most dogged rival, Rick Santorum, is all but certain to claim more victories before the primary season ends.
And an astonishing admission Wednesday by one of Romney’s top aides – that primary-season policy positions may be no more lasting than squiggles on a child’s Etch A Sketch drawing toy – will hardly reassure skeptical conservative Republicans. “Everything changes” for the fall campaign, said Eric Fehrnstrom.
Still, Romney’s Illinois primary victory provided fresh evidence of electoral strength, produced a big delegate haul and paid an overnight dividend in the form of an endorsement from Jeb Bush.