Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has earned the right to take on President Obama in November.

“It is time to get behind the nominee,” Bush told the Tribune-Review on Wednesday during a visit to Pittsburgh. “And it is time for the country to focus on the most important thing, which is to elect a president who will create a climate for high growth and job-creating abilities for our country.”

Bush called for the Republican Party to unite behind the former Massachusetts governor, who won the Illinois primary this week with 46.7 percent of the vote to 35 percent for Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania.

GOP strategist Bruce Haynes said the Bush endorsement is worth a lot to the Romney campaign.

“It’s literally the sound of the referee’s whistle calling the game to an end,” Haynes said.

Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas have declared that they will remain in the race until the Republican National Convention in August in Tampa.

Bush, 59, the son of a president and brother of another, pushed aside any interest in running with Romney. But he has strong feelings on whom he wants Romney to pick as a running mate.

“Marco Rubio,” he said of the freshman Florida GOP senator, who served as a volunteer on Bush’s governor’s campaign. Bush described Rubio, 40, as “dynamic, joyful, disciplined and principled.”

Read the full story at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review