With Mr. Gingrich stepping aside from the daily combat of the race, Mr. Santorum remains the last real roadblock to Mr. Romney's becoming the nominee.
However, some believe worries about competition issues are simply a smokescreen, suggesting the real roadblock to mergers is the stretched balance sheets of some of the key players.
The administration should turn its attention to the real roadblock -- its own overly ideological, and often slow-moving, method of selecting nominees.
Still, Mr. Nelson's threat is certain to infuriate Senate Republicans, including Senator Frank H. Murkowski of Alaska, Mr. Griles's chief champion, who has accused Democrats of "playing hostage" with the nomination and who must now address a real roadblock.
But the real roadblock to wider military acceptance and development of the Spencer was the Department of War Chief of Ordnance, Gen. James Ripley, who dismissed the Spencer and similar breechloaders as just "newfangled gimcracks," and he refused to authorize their purchase.
Responding to the reports the shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, refused to take responsibilty for the impasse, saying: "We warned Nick Clegg that the real roadblock to reforming the Lords was the Tory party – something we learned the hard way from our 13 years in government.
