The District of Columbia, Maryland and Wisconsin hold primaries on Tuesday and Mitt Romney appears headed for wins in all three contests.
With 42 delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa come August, Wisconsin ranks as the largest prize on the table. According to three polls unveiled on Monday, Romney has a solid lead over the field in the Badger State and Maryland.
A poll of likely Wisconsin Republican primary voters released by We Ask America shows Romney ahead with 39 percent followed by Rick Santorum in second with 31 percent. Ron Paul stands in distant third with 16 percent, right ahead of Newt Gingrich with 15 percent.
The We Ask America poll of 1,173 likely Wisconsin Republican primary voters was taken on April 1 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.86 percent.
A poll of likely primary voters from Public Policy Polling, a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, shows Romney leading with 43 percent followed by Santorum with 36 percent. Ron Paul is in third with 11 percent followed by Gingrich in single digits with 8 percent.
The PPP poll of 609 likely Wisconsin Republican primary voters was taken March 31-April 1 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
On Monday PPP also released a poll of Maryland, which will have 37 delegates at the convention in Tampa, which shows Romney is headed to a big win in the Old Line State. The poll shows Romney is set to win in Maryland with 52 percent followed by Santorum with 27 percent. Gingrich stands in third with 10 percent followed by Paul with 9 percent.
The PPP poll of 500 likely Maryland Republican primary voters was taken March 31-April 1 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percent.
Romney is counting on the support of much of the Republican establishment and elected officials in both states. Romney last week reeled in the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the chairman of the House Budget Committee. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., endorsed him on Sunday.
On Monday, Mark Green, the former congressman and ambassador who was the Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006 when he came up short against Democrat Jim Doyle, announced he is backing Romney. His wife, Sue Green, endorsed Romney at the end of March.
This might be the most important election of my lifetime, Green said Monday. On Tuesday, Wisconsin voters will have the chance to vote for a change of direction in Washington. Mitt Romney is the only candidate who can get our economy back on track, shrink government and restore our standing around the world. With so much at stake for our country, it is important that Wisconsin voters support Mitt Romney, a proven leader and man of great vision.
Santorum focused on Wisconsin on Monday. He held rallies in Shawano and Oshkosh and campaigned in Appleton, Menasha and Ripon. But Santorum is heading home to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to watch the elections results.
Trailing in Wisconsin, Santorum has a new commercial running in the Badger State attacking Romney. The TV ad slams Romney on signing a health-care bill in Massachusetts which, the Santorum commercial states, lost the state thousands of jobs and provided abortions with little individual expenses. The ad also slams Romney for backing cap-and-trade and raising taxes.
While Romney and Santorum focused on Wisconsin, Gingrich set his sights on Maryland. The former congressional leader held a rally in Frederick on Monday.
While he campaigned in both Wisconsin and Maryland last week, Paul is looking to contests beyond Tuesday. With some of the other Republican presidential candidates increasingly focusing on California, which holds its primary on June 5, Pauls team announced over the weekend that their candidate will be hitting the Golden State this week.
Paul will be holding town hall meetings at three universities -- which are increasingly the focus of his campaign. He will be at California State University-Chico on Tuesday; UCLA on Wednesday; and UC-Berkeley on Thursday.
Ron Pauls message of individual liberty, prosperity and peace resonates with California students and voters, said Edward King, the national youth director for Pauls team. In California, almost 60 Youth for Ron Paul chapters are recruiting new supporters for the campaign each day, more than in any other state. Thats why were excited for Ron Pauls upcoming visits to Cal State-Chico, UCLA and UC-Berkeley. He will continue to inspire this new generation of voters and bring them into the political process, which is vital to defeating President Obama and revitalizing the Republican Party. No other GOP candidate offers that possibility.
Romney is heavily favored to win in the District of Columbia, which will bring 19 delegates to Tampa, as Santorum is not on the ballot there.
After Tuesday, the Republican presidential hopefuls will have three weeks to focus on five states in the Northeast -- Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island -- which hold their primaries April 24. Santorum has scheduled events in his home state of Pennsylvania later this week. The Gingrich campaign has five events planned for Delaware, where he campaigned last week on Tuesday and Thursday.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
