Inside the Beltway: To drop out, or not to drop out?

After doing the brutal math, some insist that Republican hopeful Mitt Romney is so far ahead of his campaign rivals that he remains the “inevitable candidate” and a shoo-in for the party’s presidential nomination. Always in need of a story, however, the contrary press continues to beat the war drums and declare a close race between Mr. Romney and Rick Santorum. So weary Business Insider political analyst Michael Brendan Dougherty has news for people: “Get used to it. Romney is winning.”

Mr. Dougherty talliedvotes from all previous primaries and caucuses as the quartet of candidates face a Missouri caucus and a Puerto Rico primary this weekend and, more important, the Illinois primary on Tuesday. Mr. Romney has 3,223,633 votes, or 39 percent of the votes cast, and Mr. Santorum has 2,075,781 votes, or 25 percent. So, uh, get used to it.

But are Republican voters ready to surrender the campaign spectacle, often covered as a contact sport by journalists? Well, maybe not. More numbers to consider: A Bloomberg poll released Thursday finds that 48 percent of Republican voters say the trailing candidates should stay in the race for now; 46 percent say they should drop out.

Voters, however, still appear to have pronounced loyalties. A Fox News Poll also released Thursday revealed that 52 percent of Republicans say the race can continue for months as long as “our candidate wins the Republican presidential nomination.”

CANDIDATE TRACKER

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Things could be worse for two of the candidates, anyway. Republican hopefuls Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney both journey to sunny Puerto Rico to woo voters who anticipate the territory’s primary on Sunday.

Though they were just getting acclimated to all things Southern a few days ago, the two hopefuls head to the Midwest for some heartland campaigning in the next 72 hours; Mr. Romney, for example, will headline an event at Pancakes Eggcetera in Rosemont, Ill., while Mr. Santorum greets fans at Schnuck’s Crossing in Wildwood, Mo. Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich will be spending much time in Louisiana.

And ever the rogue candidate, Rep. Ron Paul ignores the push in Illinois before the state’s primary on Tuesday and heads to California for Tinseltown duty, sort of. He’ll host a luncheon and fundraiser in Burbank and also appear on NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

T-SHIRT PATROL

“Conservachick”

- T-shirt motto spotted on a female jogger in Binghamton, N.Y.

COMMENCEMENT TRACKER

The halls of ivy are rustling. It’s the time of year to track what luminary speaks where as the graduates get ready for their long march in cap and gown toward a tough job market. Just a few of the many commencement speakers so far:

President Obama (Air Force Academy; Barnard College; Joplin High School, Joplin, Mo.); Vice President Joseph R. Biden (U.S. Military Academy; Cypress Bay High School, Weston, Fla.; Tallwood High School, Virginia Beach); Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (York College of Pennsylvania); Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker (Stanford University); New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (University of North Carolina); NBC News anchorman Brian Williams (George Washington University); CNN’s Fareed Zakaria (Harvard and Duke universities); Chuck Hagel (Marymount University, Arlington, Va.); and writer-producer Aaron Sorkin (Syracuse University).

FATHER FLANAGAN‘S JOURNEY

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