Oh, right, almost forgot Fred Thompson was still in this thing. The AP via TPM:

Fred Thompson will be endorsed for president by the National Right to Life Committee, Republicans say.

The endorsement by the prominent anti-abortion group could give a boost to the campaign of the Republican former Tennessee senator, who has seen his poll numbers drop in recent weeks and has failed to become the consensus candidate for conservatives.

This is another big blow to Romney after the Robertson Giuliani endorsement and is actually good news for Giuliani. He knew he was never going to get this endorsement in the first place so Thompson getting it is probably the next best thing, to the extent that this provides further evidence that a "consensus conservative" has not emerged. Also, if Rudy is going to execute his Florida plus strategy, he's going to need the first few states to be split, which means the next best thing to his actually winning South Carolina is Thompson's winning it and this endorsement has the potential to put some wind in Thompson's South Carolina sails.

The news isn't all good for Giuliani though.

From First Read:

The California Republican Assembly today announced it's endorsing Romney's presidential campaign. This is THE conservative endorsement to get in California.

California is key to Giuliani's road to the nomination and this may be a sign that he is less than inevitable here. The assembly's slight of Giuliani shouldn't come as too big a surprise though since, contrary to popular belief, California Republicans are actually quite a conservative minority. Conservative California blog Flash Report puts Romney's endorsement by the CRA into context.

Mitt Romney achieved the two-thirds vote necessary of over 230 delegates to receive the endorsement. Romney beat Thompson with Paul and Hunter in third and fourth. There are three observations that come out of that that seem to be playing out nationally.

Romney wants to win and will organize to do it.

More people are getting over the "Mormon" thing.

Ron Paul is overshadowing traditional conservatives like Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo.

The upshot:

While Mitt Romney is not the perfect candidate, he is becoming the conservative alternative to a Giuliani nomination and he is doing what is needed to be President.