GOP Presidential Primary

Rick Santorum could endorse Mitt Romney for president in the next week, John Brabender said.

The 2012 general election effectively begins Saturday as President Obama launches his campaign against the de facto Republican nominee Mitt Romney. But before the focus turns to the Democrat versus Republican battle, here is a look back at the comings and goings of the GOP primary.

Nugent said on Friday the Romney team expressed its support after his remarks, but the campaign denies his claim.

Richard Grenell's resignation presents a high hurdle to Mitt Romney's shift to the center.

Newt Gingrich on Thursday repeated an accusation that President Obama’s campaign has used to attack Mitt Romney, confirming that he still believes Romney has been dishonest in his campaign.

“I still believe that the Romney campaign said things that they knew weren’t true,” he told CNN. “Gov. Romney said things at times that weren’t true. … I also believe that compared to Barack Obama, I would trust Mitt Romney a hundred times over.”

The interview took place the day after Gingrich officially suspended his bid for the White House on Wednesday and endorsed Romney as the GOP nominee.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) conceded Thursday that Mitt Romney would make a “marginally” better president than Obama.

“We can’t boil it down and say it’s Obama’s fault and Romney will be 100 percent different and it will all be better,” Paul told conservative Laura Ingraham on her radio show.

Paul is Romney’s last remaining challenger in the GOP primary, and although the two have remained fairly friendly through the race, Paul rejected the idea that electing Romney would prompt very much change in the direction of the country.

The Republican National Committee is warning the Nevada GOP that if supporters of Ron Paul are allowed to take too many slots for the national convention, the party may opt against seating the state's entire delegation.

"I believe it is highly likely that any committee with jurisdiction over the matter would find improper any change to the election, selection, allocation, or binding of delegates, thus jeopardizing the seating of Nevada’s entire delegation to the National Convention," said John R. Phillippe Jr., the chief counsel for the RNC, in a letter obtained by the Las Vegas Sun.

The RNC is concerned that the Paul campaign will game the state-level convention this weekend that selects delegates to the national convention. While Mitt Romney should be awarded 20 of the state's 28 delegates, based on his dominating win in the state's primary, it's possible that Paul supporters could exploit their strength in the Nevada GOP to get named to some of those delegate slots. 

Ron Paul supporters are taking over state party organizations in states critical in the presidential election

In his 30-minute exit speech to supporters, Gingrich discussed brain science, hologram technology and lunar colonies.

Newt Gingrich, who at one time was the front-runner for the Republican nomination and who later promised to bring an insurgent campaign all the way to the national convention, suspended his presidential campaign Wednesday. 

“Today I am suspending the campaign, but suspending the campaign does not mean suspending citizenship,” Gingrich said from a hotel in suburban Washington D.C.