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THE race for the Republican presidential nominationhas followed a consistent pattern. Every monthor so a candidate emerges from the pack tothreaten Mitt Romneys lead, only to drop backafter a week or two. It used to be a newchallenger each time: Michele Bachmann, HermanCain, Rick Perry and so on. Lately, it has been thesame man periodically snapping at Mr Romneysheels before falling behind again: Rick Santorum, aformer senator from Pennsylvania. This week MrSantorum flubbed yet another chance to overtakeMr Romney, by losing the primary in Illinois. That is great news for Mr Romney. 共和党人参选总统提名的方式总是千篇一律。每个月都会从党内冒出一个会对罗姆尼的领先地位造成威胁的候选人，但只是为了一两个星期后被罗姆尼甩在身后。以前这样的候选人每每都会成为一个新的挑战：米歇尔贝克曼，赫尔曼凯因，里克派瑞等等。后来的候选人渐渐沦为定期出现的人偶，只是为了在又一次落后之前徒劳地咬住罗姆尼前进的车轮，比如宾夕法尼亚州的前议员里克桑托勒姆。本周桑托勒姆伊利诺斯州初选失利，失去了超越罗姆尼的机会。不过这对罗姆尼来说却是个好消息。 After Georgia, Illinois is the biggest prize yet, accounting for 69 of 2,286 delegates to theRepublican convention in August, at which the nominee will formally be selected. MrRomney won by a big margin: 47% to 35%. Because of the complicated electoral rules inIllinois and many other states, that will bring him at least two-thirds of the delegates fromthe state. It also marks the first time that he has drubbed Mr Santorum in the Midwest, afternarrow wins in Michigan and Ohio and defeats in Iowa and Minnesota. | 
