Mitt Romney effectively assumed the helm of the Republican Party last night after five primary victories across the Northeast solidified his stature as the US presidential nominee-in-waiting.
As Mr Romney received a significant boost in delegates from New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, lurching closer to the total needed to formally secure the nomination, he marked the milestone by outlining themes of the fall campaign in a visit to this battleground state.
"Is it easier to make ends meet? Is it easier to sell your home or buy a new one?" Mr Romney asked in Manchester, N.H., ticking through a litany of challenges facing Americans.
He added, "If the answer were yes to those questions, then president Obama would be running for re-election based on his achievements and rightly so, but because he has failed, he will run a campaign of diversions, distractions and distortions."
Mr Romney, who fought back challenges from a Republican field that once included nearly a dozen rivals, has been pivoting his campaign toward the general election since Rick Santorum left the race two weeks ago.
But as Newt Gingrich indicated a new willingness to reassess his candidacy, the formal end to the race finally seemed at hand, giving Mr Romney latitude to assert control over the Republican National Committee and concentrate on how to confront Mr Obama.
The Romney campaign, which has been expanding rapidly, is settling on a message for the autumn campaign. Mr Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, laid out a succinct argument for his economic leadership and urged Americans to consider whether they are better off now than when Mr Obama took office three years ago.
"President Obama is not going to run on his record, but we are," said Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign. He said Mr Romney would detail his economic vision as he prepared to challenge Mr Obama, declaring, "It's not just about the last three years but the future."
More than 200 delegates were at stake yesterday. With the outcome of the nominating contest no longer in doubt, Mr Romney barely campaigned in the states but was expected to win the lion's share of the delegates and accelerate his effort to reach the 1,144 required for the nomination.
Although Mr Romney often talks about how he and the president offer competing visions of the country's future, he will try to turn the focus to a contrast between his own vision and Obama's record. The campaign will mine details of the president's actions in office, particularly his stewardship of the economy.
Mr Romney will also begin introducing himself to a wider audience of voters who have yet to focus on the general election. In addition to having him talk about his background and business experience, the campaign will increase the presence of his wife, Ann, and five sons.
On Monday night, Ann Romney headlined a Republican dinner in Stamford, Conn., choking up when she talked about how her husband stood by her side during her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
The Republican primary campaign, which was defined by the acrimony among Romney, Santorum and their rivals over the party's direction, is drawing to a close in an anticlimactic fashion. Some Republicans have done little to mask their tepid response to Mr Romney, but several party leaders said yesterday they did not worry about getting conservatives to rally behind him.
"It's Obama that's going to get Republicans jazzed up," said Sen Jim DeMint, who has expressed support for Mr Romney. "As he gets his positions across and shows the contrast with where Obama's taken the country and where he wants to take us, people will clearly see what he is talking about."
As Mr Romney attends fundraisers in New York and New Jersey today, many of his top aides will gather in Boston for what one adviser described as a day of "serious meetings" to discuss building his campaign into a general election operation ready to take on Obama.
Already, the Romney campaign has started creating a "cubicle village" in the now-empty first floor of its headquarters to accommodate all of its new hires.
One campaign challenge will be keeping Romney in the spotlight, particularly as he competes with the White House for attention. To that end, his campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, is devising a roll-out calendar with the intent of introducing national endorsements or big-name campaigners almost daily.
The Romney campaign is aggressively looking into all aspects of the Obama administration, with a plan to present the president as a nice and likeable but unsuited to solving the country's economic challenges. Aides said they intended to keep the conversation focused on Mr Obama's record in the White House and not his personal biography.
"There is a pretty broad view that president Obama is a good family man and decent guy but may be in over his head," said Mr Gillespie, a former counselor to George W. Bush, who was brought into the Romney campaign this month.
He said the argument against re-election would be built around the suggestion that Mr Obama "has not displayed strong leadership but failed leadership and weak leadership.
"Obama offered his take on Romney during a taping Tuesday of "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," saying: "I've met him, but we're not friends."
Reuters