Presidential candidates will fight for delegates in Wisconsin, Maryland and District of Columbia today bringing them one step closer to the National Republican Convention later this year.
Mitt Romney is currently ahead in polls in all three races, with a 10-point lead overall. Rick Santorum was in second-place, which leaves Newt Gingrich in third and Ron Paul in fourth.
If Romney takes all three primaries tomorrow, he will be 98 delegates closer to the Republican nomination, requiring only 48 percent of the delegates that will remain after Tuesday’s primaries.
Santorum still needs 80 percent of the delegates left to win the nomination in August.
Gingrich, who needs 91 percent of the remaining delegates to win, said he recognizes the unlikelihood of winning, but said Romney still has a long way to go.
“I can’t tell you today with any certainty that I will be the nominee,” Gingrich told Fox News. “But I can tell you … Gov. Romney doesn’t have it locked down. And we have no obligation to back off and concede anything until he does.”
Paul is also determined to keep fighting despite the impossibility of winning the nomination. However, he said he can’t say for sure whether or not he’d support Romney if he took the nomination.
“I think we represent the future,” Paul told Washington Post. “The other candidates represent the past. The president represents the past.”
Despite his strong lead in the race for the Republican nomination, Romney is still slightly behind President Barack Obama in general election polls.
Obama has a 4-point lead on the former Massachusetts governor, giving Romney a good chance of competing should he win the nomination.
With increasing confidence of success in the primary election process, Romney continues to remind voters why he is the best candidate of choice.
“Barack Obama named himself one of the four best presidents in history,” Romney posted late last week. “He sure is the best president at piling on debt.”
