Piers Morgan put Rick Santorum on the spot last night and squeezed out an unenthusiastic endorsement of Mitt Romney:

MORGAN: You believe that Mitt Romney’s the right guy?

SANTORUM: I believe he’s the better — obviously I believed I was the better choice. But I’m not in the race anymore.

MORGAN: He has won the race. Is he therefor the right guy?

SANTORUM: Absolutely. He is the person that is going to go up
against Barack Obama. It’s pretty clear. We need to win this race.

MORGAN: Unless I’m mishearing things, you just endorsed Mitt
Romney.

SANTORUM: If that’s what you want to call it, you can
call it whatever you want.

First Read: “After reading that exchange and also seeing Gingrich stay in the race
probably a month too long (after not winning Alabama and Mississippi),
we have this question: Did both Santorum and Gingrich hold out too long?
What does Romney owe them now? Hope they enjoy speaking in the
afternoon in Tampa.”

Newt Gingrich “unofficially conceded” the Republican presidential race to Mitt Romney, telling North Carolina Republicans “it’s pretty clear Governor Romney is going to be the nominee,” National Journal reports.

Said Gingrich: “I think obviously that I would be a better candidate, but the objective fact is the voters didn’t think that. And I also think it’s very, very important that we be unified.”

Meanwhile, Fox News reports Gingrich will formally suspend his campaign next Tuesday.

While there is little question that Mitt Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee, Smart Politics notes that Romney continues to wrap up the nomination in a historically weak fashion.

“Over
the last 40 years there have been nearly 80 contests in which the
presumptive Republican nominees played out the string after their last
credible challenger exited the race. In every one of these contests, the
GOP frontrunner won at least 60% of the vote, even when ex- and
long-shot candidates remained on the ballot. But on Tuesday, Romney won
only 56% of the vote in Delaware and 58% in Pennsylvania,
home to Rick Santorum who dropped out on April 10th.”

“Everywhere I go, Americans are tired of being tired.”

— Mitt Romney, quoted by the New York Times, in a victory speech to supporters after winning five primaries.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s favorable rating at 65%, the highest mark that the former first lady has ever reached in the history of the poll. Just 27% of respondents viewed Clinton unfavorably.

The Fix: “Great poll numbers and high-profile supporters don’t matter at all if Clinton has, in her heart of hearts, put away the idea of running for president again. If that door is left open even a crack, however, these are the sorts of developments that could push it open wider.”

As he heads into a general election against Mitt Romney, President Obama’s speeches “are revisiting parts of the life story that helped propel his rise,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “There are nods to his humble beginnings, his hardworking grandmother and the stresses of debt — in short, stories that best connect with the middle-class voters his reelection may depend on.”

The reason: “After more than three years in office, the trappings of the presidency can begin to take a toll, causing voters to see the incumbent more as a high-priced suit behind a podium than as a person whose life once resembled theirs. Obama campaign aides are mindful of that potential problem.”

After losing all five primaries Tuesday night to Mitt Romney in landslide fashion, Newt Gingrich “sent the strongest signal yet that he’s nearing the end of his tottering campaign,” Politico reports.

Said Gingrich: “We’re going to look realistically at where we’re at. We are going to think carefully about how we can be the most helpful to this country.”

But he made clear he’s still got a full schedule as the GOP presidential campaign heads to North Carolina.

Coal-mining millionaire Tom Smith (R), a newcomer to politics who spent $4 million of his own money on TV advertising, easily won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

His candidacy “was scorned by the Republican establishment,” including Gov. Tom Corbett (R).

Smith will face Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) in the fall election.

Rep. Tim Holden (D-PA), who was elected to Congress in 1992 and was one of its conservative Blue Dog Democrats, lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary to Matt Cartwright (D), the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Rep. Mark Critz (D-PA) “used his deep home base support and the heft of organized labor to win his fratricidal bout” with Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA), “picking up an underdog victory in an increasingly conservative district,” the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette reports.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) “made it clear” that he will seek reelection in 2014, the Miami Herald reports.

Said Scott: “I’m running for re-election. I like this job!”

Ezra Klein points out that if President Obama wins re-election, he will likely “still be negotiating with Republican leaders in Congress. But the same can’t be said for Mitt Romney.”

“If Romney wins the election, it’s almost a sure bet that Republicans win control of both the House and the Senate. And that matters. Right now, the GOP’s agenda is the Ryan budget, and that’s entirely fiscal: It’s a premium support plan for Medicare, and tax cuts, and deep cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other domestic programs. All that can be passed through budget reconciliation — which is to say, all that can be made immune to the filibuster.”

“So if Romney wins and the Republicans take control, they could accomplish quite a lot on party-line votes, even if their majorities are slim, and Democrats are opposed. Indeed, Romney could end up being a fairly transformational president for conservatives so long as he’s paired with a Republican Congress.”