It's Official: Romney is the GOP Nominee

 Over the top....



From Fox News:

Mitt Romney was formally nominated Tuesday as the Republicans’ presidential  candidate, hitting the magic number of delegates late in the afternoon –  capping an eight-year quest for his party’s nomination.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Romney notched the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the  party nomination going into November. The New Jersey delegation delivered the  final delegates that put him over the top. The proceedings, as per tradition,  were part pep rally for the individual state delegations that one-by-one took  the stage and jazzed up the crowd before announcing their delegate  totals. But they also concluded what for Romney has been a protracted and  hard-fought battle for the nomination — he is here in Tampa only after warding  off a rotating field of feisty primary challengers ranging from Rick Perry to  Newt Gingrich to Rick Santorum to Herman Cain.