After a long primary battle, Mitt Romney now seems like the inevitable GOP nominee for president. But as his fellow Republicans begin to rally around him, Iowa voters received a letter in the mail from Romney’s one-time opponent, Rick Santorum, who seems anything but enthused.

The fund-raising missive was apparently written before Santorum abruptly dropped out of the race last week, but in a bit of awkward timing, Iowa residents didn’t receive it until Monday.

It says in part, “It truly frightens me to think what’ll happen if Mitt Romney is the nominee … Republicans and conservatives will be crippled by a [Massachusetts moderate] who presents zero contrast with Barack Obama on the major issues of this election.”

Since Santorum has thus far declined to endorse Romney, some feel the timing of the note was no mistake, but Steve Grubbs, a GOP strategist from Davenport, said direct mail campaigns are often ordered and paid for weeks before the letters actually go out.

“I’m sure the Santorum campaign is regretting that mail piece at this point, because as much as they may not have wanted to lose to Romney, I’m sure they don’t want to be seen as hurting the chances for the GOP this fall,” he said.

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