The establishment has a herd instinct they can fall back on, and the number of powerful money men who have been moving to assist Romney in the last few weeks has grown substantially. Former Republican National Committee chairman Jim Nicholson, hedge fund manager Paul Singer, and Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone are among the major Republican fundraisers who have recently come out in support of Romney, while other GOP whales appear to be rallying around the front-runner.

Romney must be extremely careful not to allow the inevitability tag to negatively affect how voters view his campaign. As Reagan found out in 1980 in Iowa, the electorate does not like coronations; they prefer contests. Reagan’s campaign took Iowa for granted and the candidate was made to pay for it by Iowa Republicans, who believed the Gipper slighted them by not showing up for the prime debate and making few campaign appearances. The payback came in the form of a win by George H.W. Bush, who was then ambushed by Reagan in New Hampshire.