Romney ata la nominación republicana

The Boston Globe:

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who has spent much of the past six years running for president, won the Texas primary tonight, giving him enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination and run against President Obama.

Romney was declared the Lone Star state winner by the Associated Press shortly after the polls closed at 9 p.m. Eastern time in Texas.

“Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us,” Romney said in a statement. “I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity.”

Romney has been the presumptive nominee since his top rival, former senator Rick Santorum, dropped out in April. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, quit the race earlier this month and Representative Ron Paul has said he would not actively campaign, even in his home state of Texas.

Romney won’t become the official nominee until the end of August, when Republicans hold their convention in Tampa. But the vote tonight pushed his delegate count past the 1,144 needed. After accepting the nomination at the convention, Romney will be the first Mormon nominee from a major party, succeeding where others, including Senators Orrin Hatch and Mo Udall, and Romney’s father, George, did not. Mitt Romney lost the nomination to John McCain in 2008.

He is also the third presidential nominee from Massachusetts in the past quarter century, joining Democrats Michael Dukakis in 1988 and John Kerry in 2004. The last Republican nominee from Massachusetts was Calvin Coolidge, in 1924.

Con su triunfo en Texas (con el 69% del voto), y a falta de completar el reparto, Romney se asegura al menos 97 de los 155 delegados en juego en ese estado, lo que le sitúa ya con un total de 1,183 delegados, 39 más de los necesarios para asegurar la nominación.