Romney Wins Wisconsin Primary

Mitt Romney won the Republican primary in Wisconsin Tuesday night, after earlier sweeping primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia, Fox News projects. The big night for Romney does serious damage to chief rival Rick Santorum’s underdog campaign while adding significantly to the front-runner's already imposing lead.

Santorum’s defeat in Wisconsin, a state where polls once showed him competitive with Romney, is a major setback for his efforts to stay in the race as a credible alternative to Romney. In the closing days of the race, Santorum acknowledged the possibility of a loss and spent Election Night, not in Wisconsin, but in his home state of Pennsylvania. "It's half time," Santorum declared, noting that, despite his loss, only half the delegates have been awarded to date.

But his positive spin belied the numbers that show him lagging way behind in the delegate race. Before Tuesday’s voting, Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had 572 delegates to Santorum’s 272, according to the Associate Press' count. A candidate needs 1,144 delegates to clinch the nomination.

Santorum next faces a must-win contest in Pennsylvania on April 24. Despite his native-son advantage there, his culture-warrior brand has been problematic in the past in more moderate GOP hubs in the state, and he lost his Senate reelection bid in Pennsylvania in 2006 by 18 percentage points. Even if Santorum wins the state, Romney threatens to dominate primaries the same day in New York and Connecticut.

Earlier tonight, Romney easily won primaries in Maryland, where there were 37 delegates at stake, and in the District of Columbia, which had 16 up for grabs. Wisconsin was the day’s most competitive primary. It awards 42 delegates, 18 of which go to the statewide winner. The remainder will be allotted on a winner-take-all basis by congressional district. In addition to Romney and Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas were on the ballot.