Mitt Romney charged toward the Republican US presidential nomination on Tuesday, shooting for big victories in Wisconsin and two other contests that would increase the pressure on rival Rick Santorum to drop out of the race. Romney leads in polls in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington D.C., the latest contests in the grinding, months-long battle for the right to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.
A sweep of all three would underscore Romney's growing strength and likely increase appeals from party leaders for Republicans to rally behind him despite deep reservations among many conservatives suspicious about whether he is one of them. Practically, winning all three contests would give Romney 95 more delegates and put him at well over half of the 1,144 needed to clinch the nomination at the party's convention in August.
And it would set the tone for the next big date on the campaign calendar, April 24, when six states hold Republican presidential contests. Romney leads in five of them and plans to make an aggressive push in the sixth, Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania. Romney travels there on Wednesday.
In an appearance on Fox television, Romney addressed concerns that Obama would fare better with women voters in a general election after a poll showed the president with a large advantage among women voters in swing states. "You realise that under this president the number of new business start-ups per year has dropped by 100,000," Romney said.
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