It's hard now to recall all the early season discussion around a brokered convention or prolonged Republican primary. All of that officially ended Tuesday night as Mitt Romney won the Texas primary and surpassed the 1,144 delegates required to clinch the GOP nomination.
Though he will not be named the official party nominee until the Republican National Convention the week of Aug. 27 in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday's news was a big win for the former Massachusetts governor, who failed to secure the necessary number of delegates during the primary four years ago.
His campaign put out this statement:
“I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy and I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee. Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us. 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. On Nov. 6, I am confident that we will unite as a country and begin the hard work of fulfilling the American promise and restoring our country to greatness.”