Unfortunately, Mitt stands a better chance against Obama than Santorum, Newt or Paul. Mitt likely will appeal to those in the middle enough to peel away support from Obama.
Obama-lite would be crushed by the real deal.
Romney stands no chance in the general election because people outside of the elderly GOP regular voters are not interested in him and in fact nobody outside of the GOP is going to like this plastic Mormon Obama-wannabee at all. They’ll vote for the real thing, which is Obama.
That said, I don’t think it’s a done deal. See what happens on Super Tuesday, because none of them have enough delegates to be seriously invincible at this point.
Ron Paul will probably give his delegates to Romney (probably in exchange for his son, Rand Paul, being the VP). Santorum probably won’t have any more wins because he has revealed himself to be an idea-free Establishment wuss in a sweater vest, which was exactly what he looked like all along, and Gingrich was basically killed by a combination of non-attention from the press and Rush Limbaugh’s hot air. So they’re all weak.
Maybe Gingrich can resurrect (which seems to be happening, because he’s getting his message out now, even though he has to pay for it himself). If not, it’s going to be four more years of Bambi. Oh...and the end of the USA.