The Republican Primaries have been a bumpy ride for those involved and those following it, and although with Rick Santorum out of the picture, Romney looks as if he has wrapped up the campaign. Although this may be the case now, over the past few months Romney has gone through more ups and downs than most candidates. 
    At the beginning of the race the candidate field was widespread. If you read the World in 2012 Economist and its predictions for the Republican candidate, Rick Perry and Herman Cain would be the two leading candidates and would still be fighting for the spot. Most of the challengers have dropped out of the race due to various reasons. Rick Perry dropped out due to a mixture of obscurity and vocal gaffs. Herman Cain had the scandal with the alleged sexual assault charges. Other hopefuls such as John Huntsman and Michelle Bachmann simply fell out of the public eye and were forgotten. 
    Even though these candidates did survive in the race for some time, they never came close to winning any states. The first surprise of the campaign was Iowa, in which Santorum won with close to .1 percent more votes than Romney. Although Santorum won, Romney was declared the winner for several weeks until all the ballots were finally counted. Even with the first state in Santorum’s pocket, Romney was still considered the favorite. At this point in time the only major contenders were Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum. Although Gingrich won South Carolina early on, it became clear that Romney was firmly in the lead, winning states such as Arizona, Florida, and Washington. Santorum continued to win states that were known as Deep South states, but he never won many delegates. Finally Super Tuesday arrived and many believed that by the end of the day a candidate would be chosen. Although Romney won the majority of states, taking Massachusetts, Virginia, and Ohio to name a few, Santorum also took several states such as Tennessee and North Dakota. Even Gingrich won a state, winning Georgia. 
    Although Super Tuesday didn’t decide who the candidate would be, it did put Romney clearly in front, Santorum in second, and everyone else behind them. Although Romney and Santorum continued to fight one state at a time, Romney slowly began to pull ahead in the delegate count. One of the most important states to win was Illinois, because it not only sent a message to Obama but was also a state with a high delegate count. With Romney’s victory in Illinois, most believed his victory was inevitable. Finally, Santorum announced that he was temporarily suspending his campaign for various reasons, one of which is his daughter’s sickness. After Santorum’s withdrawal, Romney’s victory is completely inevitable. With an end to the Republican primaries, Romney and Obama have begun squaring off, preparing for the general election.