BOSTON — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney walked away from Super Tuesday with a lot of convention delegates, but he failed in the equally crucial mission of closing the enthusiasm gap among voters as he heads into a string of hotly contested Southern primaries that could further underscore his weaknesses among conservatives.
Far from clearing a path to the nomination by Super Tuesday as many had once predicted, Romney, the GOP establishment favorite, is still struggling to win over the conservative voters without whom no Republican is going to win the White House.
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Romney barely won in the critical swing state of Ohio, eking out a 1 percent victory over the more conservative Rick Santorum, who also won Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Dakota. Newt Gingrich easily beat Romney in Georgia and while Romney won Virginia, his sole opponent there was Rep. Ron Paul. Neither Santorum nor Gingrich were even on the ballot.
