US election 2012: Mitt Romney’s ability to fire up Republicans questioned by prominent supporters

After scoring a clean sweep of 20 available delegates in Puerto Rico over the
weekend, Mr Romney, the multi-millionaire management consultant, now has 521
of the 1,144 delegates needed to wrap up the nomination – more than double
his nearest rival, Rick Santorum.

Mr Romney’s campaign, which has spent millions of dollars on attack
advertising belittling Mr Santorum as an “economic lightweight”,
was hoping that a trouncing of the ultraconservative Mr Santorum in Illinois
would be the moment to call an end to a bitterly divisive nomination fight.

“We need to send a message that it’s time to coalesce,” said Mr
Romney’s wife, Ann, at a campaign event in Illinois, “It’s time to get
behind one candidate and get the job done so we can move on to the next
challenge, bringing us one step closer to defeating Barack Obama.”

However Mr Santorum, who has campaigned on social issues such as contraception
and banning hard-core pornography, says Mr Romney’s lack of spark is the
reason he feels justified in campaigning to stop the front-runner achieving
the 1,144 delegates needed to win outright.

“It’s going to be very difficult as this goes on for anybody to get that
‘magic number’ to clinch the nomination,” Mr Santorum said, adding that
Mr Romney had failed to close the deal despite his huge financial
advantages, “That tells you that there’s a real flaw there.”

Independent pollsters say that barring a really game-changing shift in
momentum, Mr Santorum has little chance of thwarting Mr Romney in the end,
but that the contest is very unlikely to be ended by the Illinois vote.

“The earliest date you can reasonably see Romney wrapping this up is
April 24, when Connecticut, Delaware and New York vote,” Whit Ayres, an
independent Republican pollster told The Daily Telegraph, “This contest
will continue until the math makes a Romney win inevitable.”

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