As more and more states host primaries for the party nominations, it is becoming clearer as to who will be elected to run as the GOP’s candidate for president. Since Jan. 3, Republicans in a number of states have voted for their top choice. The race to president, however, has included a number of bumps and flukes (Sandra Flukes, to be exact). After starting off with some twenty-odd candidates, as of halfway through the primary season, only four candidates remain. In order of their total delegate winnings, these candidates are former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, former Speaker of the House from Georgia Newt Gingrich, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

    For a Republican candidate to win the primary process, it’s necessary to accumulate 1400 delegates at the national convention. What this means is that a candidate must win the popular vote in a state, which typically follow a winner-takes-all policy. A number of delegates from that state, anywhere from Guam (9) to Texas (155), then represent their candidate in the national convention. In the Town of Scituate, Mitt Romney led the race, winning 1585 votes compared to Rick Santorum at 158 and Ron Paul at 121. On a state-wide level, Mitt Romney won the election and 40 delegates.

    Unless there’s a major slip-up in a candidate’s campaign, we’ll know for sure who is representing the Republicans around June 26, the date of the last primary in Utah. Of course, the Democratic party has practically chosen its candidate for the 2012 elections, President Barack Obama. If Romney actively fights for votes in the last remaining primaries, it will most likely be a race between Romney and Obama in the fall. However, with a little less than 1000 delegates up for grabs across the states, the election is certainly not set in stone.

    Although Massachusetts has already chosen its former governor to represent the GOP in 2012, it’s still important to listen to what’s happening in other primaries. Just a few weeks ago Rick Santorum claimed that an English language standard should be synonymous with Puerto Rican statehood. And while Mitt Romney declared September “Responsible Dog Ownership Month” as governor, he has received much criticism for transporting his Irish setter in a kennel strapped to the roof of his car in a 1983 family vacation.

    It’s shaping up to be a zany election season. More than ever, the transition between primaries and election season is where a candidate’s true colors shine as they move from competition with their peers towards wooing the American public at large.