Romney Wins Puerto Rico, GOP Campaign Continues

(AP) Romney wins Puerto Rico, GOP campaign continues

By PHILIP ELLIOTT and BEN FOX
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Mitt Romney scored an overwhelming win Sunday in Puerto Rico’s Republican presidential primary, trouncing chief rival Rick Santorum on the Caribbean island even as the two rivals looked ahead to more competitive contests this week in Illinois and Louisiana.

The victory in the U.S. territory was so convincing that Romney, the GOP front-runner, won all 20 delegates to the national convention at stake because he got more than 50 percent of the vote. That padded his comfortable lead over Santorum in the race to amass 1,144 delegates to clinch the nomination.

Nevertheless, the GOP nomination fight is unlikely to end anytime soon, with Santorum refusing to step aside even though Romney is pulling further ahead in the delegate hunt.

As the day began, Santorum claimed he was in contest for the long haul because Romney is a weak front-runner.

Yet, Santorum sidestepped when asked if he would fight Romney on the convention floor if he failed before August to stop the former Massachusetts governor from getting the required number of delegates.

Romney, in turn, expressed confidence that he’d prevail.

Both are aggressively competing in the next two states to vote. Illinois, a more moderate Midwestern state, is seen as more friendly territory for Romney, while Santorum is the favorite in the more conservative Southern state of Louisiana.

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Elliott reported from Washington.