After the Louisiana primary on Saturday, the procession of states that are determining which Republican will challenge President Barack Obama in November slows down with the next round coming up on April 3 when the District of Columbia, Maryland and Wisconsin have their say.
Wisconsin is the largest prize of the three with 42 delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa -- and a poll released at the end of last week shows Mitt Romney in solid shape to win the state.
Romney leads a Rasmussen Reports poll of likely Wisconsin Republican primary voters with 46 percent followed by Rick Santorum with 33 percent. The other two major candidates in the race do not break single digits in the Badger State. Ron Paul takes 8 percent with Newt Gingrich right behind him with 7 percent, while 5 percent are undecided and 1 percent back other candidates.
The poll of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters was taken March 21 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
Romney increased his efforts in Wisconsin last week. On Thursday, his campaign launched a new television commercial stressing his conservative credentials.
The Romney camp has also unleashed proxies in the Badger State -- including former Wisconsin state Sen. Ted Kanavas, Romneys state chairman -- against Santorum.
Santorum started his efforts in Wisconsin this weekend. On Saturday, while Louisiana Republicans were casting their votes, Santorum spoke in Milwaukee before holding rallies in Sheboygan and Bellevue. On Sunday, the Santorum campaign staged campaign events in Fond du Lac and Racine.
While Romney and Santorum focus on Wisconsin, Paul will be heading to Maryland this week for an event at the University of Maryland. Increasingly the Paul campaign has relied on rallies at colleges and universities in states like Illinois and Louisiana. Paul will hit College Park on Wednesday night.
Edward King, who is in charge of the Paul campaigns efforts to attract young voters, said that it made sense for the Texas congressman to focus on the University of Maryland. Maryland will bring 37 delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa.
The University of Maryland chapter is one of our strongest in the country, recruiting more than 2,000 supporters for the campaign so far, King said. Supporters are working tirelessly to organize this upcoming event so Ron Paul can speak directly to students and Maryland voters about his Plan to Restore America, an economic blueprint that includes cutting $1 trillion in his first year in office and balancing the budget within three years.
Ron Paul is the only candidate who will solve our debt crisis, King continued. Thats why he attracts so many young people, and thats why he is the best candidate to defeat President Obama in November.
After the contests on April 3, there will be a three-week lag until five Northeastern states hold primaries: Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859
