This would have been Romney's anti-Santorum attack ad
Mitt Romney might be
stuck at 42 percent among Republican voters and he might not have the endorsement of Rick Santorum, but in the wake of Santorum's withdrawal, he is getting the endorsements of some new Republican officials:
- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: "Congratulations to Governor Romney on winning a hard fought race, I look forward to supporting him in retiring President Obama."
- Florida Gov. Rick Scott: "Mitt Romney will be our party's nominee and it is critical that all Republicans coalesce behind Governor Romney and focus on electing him as President so he can put the policies in place to create jobs, turn our economy around and get federal spending under control."
- South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham: "Now is the time to get behind Mitt Romney as our presidential nominee so that every corner of the Republican Party is united. Our party must aggressively pursue the conservative Democrats and independents needed to ensure Barack Obama is a one-term president. America cannot afford another four years of Barack Obama."
- Iowa Governor Terry Branstad: "Today, I am enthusiastically endorsing Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president. In Mitt Romney, Americans will have a clear contrast with President Obama in November."
- Former Godfather's CEO Herman Cain: "I have always said I will support whoever the nominee is and it looks like Mitt Romney’s going to be that nominee, and we do need to get behind him."
- Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey
It's not all good news for Romney: As I mentioned at the top of the post, he's not yet at 50 percent among Republicans, Rick Santorum still hasn't backed him, and Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul haven't gotten on board either. And conservative activist Richard Viguerie is warning Romney that if he doesn't suck up to the right, conservatives won't show up in the fall. And Family Research Council President Tony Perkins had this to say:
tony perkins tells me re romney: “It’s difficult for us to back a candidate our constituents don’t believe in and aren’t excited about"
— @DanaBashCNN via web
In addition, keeping in line with the "Endorsing 'Meh' Romney"
theme, of today's endorsers, only Terry Branstad was willing to offer more than lukewarm praise of Romney.
Nonetheless, each of Romney's new endorsements (and yes, they are all guys, though Nikki Haley was dispatched to tell everyone there is no war on women), made it clear that the real reason they support Mitt Romney is that they really, really, really hate Barack Obama's presidency. They want him out of their Oval Office like nothing they've ever wanted before. And that red hot fury is what Republicans are counting on to deliver them the keys to the White House in the fall.