Mitt Romney conquered key state Ohio, but failed to inflict a decisive defeat on rival Rick Santorum on the so-called "Super Tuesday". This suggests that the struggle between the party establishment and the conservative base for the nomination of the Republican candidate is still long.
Romney won five of the 10 states up for grabs but with a very narrow margin of victory in Ohio, the most important state in yesterday's challenge and politically divided. Romney is now closer to the threshold of 1.144 delegates needed to secure the nomination but Santorum's performance continues to highlight Romney's inability to win broad support among the Republican party base, which is suspicious of his "moderate" past as governor of Massachusetts.
Romney won easily in Massachusetts, as well as in Vermont and Idaho, also conquering Virginia while Santorum won Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Dakota.
With the majority of votes now counted in Ohio, Romney leads with 38% of the vote and Santorum is second with 37%. The TV projections therefore crown Romney. According to exit polls, Ohio voters think Romney has a better chance of beating Obama but consider Santorum closer to the problems than the average American.
