WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney squeezed out a win in pivotal Ohio, captured four other states with ease and padded his delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination but was forced to share the Super Tuesday spotlight with a resurgent Rick Santorum.
On the busiest night of the campaign, Romney scored a home-state win in Massachusetts to go with primary victories in Vermont and in Virginia — where neither Santorum nor Newt Gingrich was on the ballot. He added the Idaho caucuses to his column.
Ohio was the big win, though, and the closest contest of all as the Republican rivals battled for the chance to face Democratic President Barack Obama in November.
Santorum countered crisply, winning primaries in Oklahoma and Tennessee and the North Dakota caucuses — raising fresh doubts about Romney’s ability to corral the votes of conservatives in some of the most Republican states in the country.
Ohio was the marquee matchup, a second industrial-state showdown in as many weeks between Romney and Santorum. It drew the most campaigning and television advertisements of all 10 Super Tuesday contests and for good reason — no Republican has ever won the White House without carrying the state in the fall.
