As Rick Santorum announced the suspension of his presidential campaign on Tuesday, Mitt Romney now stands as the clear Republican presidential nominee to challenge President Barack Obama in November's notional elections. With Santorum now on the sidelines, the elections campaign and the fundraising push are now on.

Following Santorum's announcement, Obama was in full campaign mode during his recent visit to South Florida. In his public address, Obama pushed for the U.S. Senate's approval of the "Buffet Rule," which aims to increase taxes on wealthy Americans earning over $1 million annually – a legislative issue sure to be key in his campaign against Romney.

Obviously targeting his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, he said in America, "prosperity has never trickled down from the wealthy few. Prosperity has always come from the bottom up, and yet we keep on having the same argument with folks who don't seem to understand how America got built."

Romney however has limited time to prepare a focused campaign against the well-oiled machine supporting Obama. Santorum's late withdrawal and public bravado about his chances to win have seriously cut into Romney's time, distracting his general election focus as frontrunner. Just prior to his announcement of withdrawal on Tuesday, Santorum even suggested that he would remain in the Republican nomination race through to the final contest in Utah on June 26, and deny Romney the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination until the Republican National Convention on August 27.

Playing catch up, it can be expected that Romney, joined by the Republican National Committee (RNC), will be throwing the proverbial 'kitchen sink' at Obama. Romney, a decent fundraiser in his own right, along with the RNC, should have no problems in finding financial resources for the campaign. He will also have the support of the powerful cash intensives of the Super Political Action Committees (Super PACs).

On the other hand, campaign funding shouldn't be a problem for Obama, whose campaign has a goal to raise over a billion dollars. On his recent trip to South Florida, Obama attended three high-priced fundraisers to raise $2 million.

Earlier this month it was reported that Obama's re-election campaign had accumulated funding amounting to some $157 million at the end of February. In 2008, Obama raised over $657 million mainly from individual contributors.

The campaign is currently busy raising funds from small donations via the Internet and formal fundraising events.