Now that the GOP Presidential nomination is finally assured for Mitt Romney the general election fireworks can begin. With Rick Santorum pulling out, rather than facing a possible loss in his home state, the primary battles were over and the general election campaign was unofficially on. Both Romney and President Obama came out swinging shortly after Santorum withdrew. At that time there seemed little doubt but that things would heat up very quickly and they have. In fact, Romney came out much stronger in his attacks on the President after he won five primaries on April 24th. This promises to be one of the most interesting Presidential elections since the Bush-Gore epic battle a few years back. It will also be the most costly ever and that’s not a good thing for the American people.

If given his choice of an opponent, I don’t believe President Obama could have picked a better person to run against than Romney. But even with Romney as the nominee – with all of the baggage he brings from his most interesting past and his inability to connect with regular folks – the GOP will likely make the race a close one. That’s because of the huge amounts of money that will be made available to the Republican candidate regardless of who it is. I really thought Romney – with all of his “goofy” statements and constant mistakes – might be trying to make the Obama campaign folks overconfident. But the more we see I am now convinced we are seeing the real Romney. His ever becoming President of the United States is a scary thought.