Super delegates say it's over ... but most are still on the sidelines
According to Republican Party super delegates, the nomination battle is over and Mitt Romney
has won.
It's over, and Mitt Romney is going to be the GOP nominee for president.
That's the growing consensus among Republican National Committee members who will automatically attend the party's national convention this summer and can support any candidate they choose.
The AP reports that even super delegates who don't support Mitt Romney say it's over. But a surprisingly large number of them aren't willing to publicly pledge their allegiance:
The Associated Press has polled 114 of the 120 superdelegates, party members who can support any candidate for president they choose at the national convention in August, regardless of what happens in primaries or caucuses.
In the latest survey, conducted Tuesday to Friday, Romney has 35 endorsements, far more than anyone else but a modest figure for the apparent nominee.
So everybody, Republican super delegates included, say the Republican primary is over. And it doesn't take long to look at the numbers and realize they are basically right—nobody but Mitt Romney can win, and Mitt Romney will win unless he suddenly decides he wants to lose. Based on the fact that he's
carpet bombing Rick Santorum's home state with television ads, it's safe to assume Romney still wants to win.
And yet even though the suspense is now totally gone, less than one-third of super delegates polled by AP said they actually support Mitt Romney. Similarly, just 41 percent of Republicans told Gallup they support Mitt Romney in Gallup's latest survey. But that doesn't mean it isn't over. Mitt Romney does in fact have a death grip on the primary crown. It's just that Republicans don't seem all that happy about it.