RNC Essentially Declares Romney the Nominee

This week, the Republican National Committee plans to begin raising money in tandem with the Mitt Romney campaign. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The arrangement will allow top donors to write checks as large as $75,000 per person, by giving to party organizations in addition to the campaign. That’s far more than the $2,500 ceiling that applies to individual donations to a presidential candidate for the fall election.

“Our donors are ready to mobilize for November,” nodded Andrea Saul, Romney’s spokesperson. While the RNC did offer for other candidates to jointly fund raise with it, they assumed that the other candidates would decline. Newt Gingrich has already said he’s not interested; Rick Santorum left the door open, but was standoffish on the offer. Before John McCain wrapped up the nomination in 2008, the RNC began jointly fund raising with him.

Romney lags far behind Obama in fund raising cash. So far, Obama has raised $126 million with the Democratic National Committee. Under the new arrangement, individuals can donate up to $75,000 to the RNC, much of which will be used for the Romney campaign.

Despite the fact that Rick Santorum has decided to continue battling for the nomination, the race is essentially over. The Party has consolidated behind Romney. Now we’ll see how Mitt Romney fares in a general election.