Romney Wins Primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C.

At New York Times, "Romney Adds 3 Victories and Clashes With Obama":

PEWAUKEE, Wis. — Mitt Romney tightened his grip on the Republican nomination on Tuesday with primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia, and, more significant, found himself in his first direct engagement with President Obama, an unmistakable signal that the general election would not wait on internal Republican politics.

Mr. Romney was declared victorious in Maryland almost as soon as voting ended there at 8 p.m., and was declared the winner in Wisconsin within an hour of the polls closing in that state, where his chief rival, Rick Santorum, once led in some voter opinion surveys.

But the day was in some respects the informal start of the general election, with Mr. Obama for the first time singling Mr. Romney out by name, during a major address dedicated to the budget authored by Mr. Romney’s marquee endorser here — Representative Paul D. Ryan — which the president called “social Darwinism.”

“He said that he’s ‘very supportive’ of this new budget,” Mr. Obama said of Mr. Romney while speaking to editors and reporters from The Associated Press. Using a mocking tone, and referring obliquely to perceptions of his potential opponent’s elite pedigree, he added, “And he even called it ‘marvelous,’ which is a word you don’t often hear when it comes to describing a budget; it’s a word you don’t hear generally.”

Mr. Romney readily engaged in the pre-fall fight, which also included the release of the first Obama campaign advertisement to directly attack Mr. Romney — running in six states and accusing him of standing with “Big Oil.”

A clearly upbeat Mr. Romney, accompanied by Mr. Ryan during a lunch stop at Cousins Subs in Waukesha, Wis., said that Mr. Obama “gets full credit or blame for what’s happened in this economy, and what’s happened to gasoline prices under his watch.”

“This president doesn’t want to take responsibility for his mistakes,” he added.

And see Los Angeles Times, "Three primary wins move Romney closer to presidential nomination," and Washington Post, "Mitt Romney wins Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C. primaries."

BONUS: At Astute Bloggers, "AN EXCERPT FROM ROMNEY'S VICTORY SPEECH IN WISCONSIN: THE ECONOMY IS A LIKE AN OMELET."