MSM is calling Romney the victor of todays primary. Is it time for the others to get out?

Romney wins Illinois GOP primary, Fox News projects

Mitt Romney beat back Rick Santorum in the Illinois Republican presidential primary Tuesday, Fox News projects, notching his latest win in an industrial state after shelling out big bucks on advertising.

The victory delivers a setback to Santorum, with just a few contests left on the calendar before a mid-April hiatus. And it helps Romney build his case that he is marching inexorably toward the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

It’s too early to say how the candidates will split up the 54 delegates up for grabs on Tuesday, but Romney will certainly be able to pad his lead in the overall delegate race.

Early returns show Romney leading with 56 percent in Illinois, followed by Santorum with 27 percent. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are battling for third place.

The candidates head next to Louisiana, where polling shows Santorum has the edge, but the state is not worth as many delegates as Illinois. Santorum had fought hard for an Illinois upset, campaigning in the state and hoping to follow up his back-to-back wins in Alabama and Mississippi a week earlier. … Read More

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Romney routs Santorum in GOP primary in Illinois

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (AP) — Front-runner Mitt Romney won the Illinois primary with ease Tuesday night, trumping Rick Santorum in yet another industrial state showdown and padding his already-formidable delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney triumphed after benefitting from a crushing advantage in the television advertising wars, and as his chief rival struggled to overcome self-imposed political wounds in the marathon race to pick an opponent to Democratic President Barack Obama.

Returns from 38 percent of the state’s precincts showed Romney gaining 52 percent of the vote compared to 319 percent for Santorum, 9 percent for Ron Paul and 7 percent for a fading Newt Gingrich.

Preliminary exit poll results showed Romney preferred by primary goers who said the economy was the top issue in the campaign, and overwhelmingly favored by those who said an ability to defeat Obama was the quality they most wanted in a nominee.

The primary capped a week in which the two campaigns seemed to be moving in opposition directions – Romney increasingly focused on the general election battle against Obama while Santorum struggled to escape self-created controversies.

Most recently, he backpedaled after saying on Monday that the economy wasn’t the main issue of the campaign. “Occasionally you say some things where you wish you had a do-over,” he said later.

Over the weekend, he was humbled in the Puerto Rico primary after saying that to qualify for statehood the island commonwealth should adopt English as an official language. Read More