(RNN) - Mitt Romney padded his delegate count on Tuesday, sweeping the Maryland, Wisconsin and Washington, DC primaries.
Even with only a few hundred votes separating him from his chief competitor Rick Santorum, CNN has projected Romney will win Wisconsin.
The race was less of a nail biter in Maryland, where Romney built a big lead early and never lost it. He also won handily in DC, where Santorum did not appear on the ballot.
The next round of primaries, slated for April 24, include Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania, where supporters gathered Tuesday night. Santorum told them the race is at halftime.
"Half the delegates have been selected and who's ready to charge out of the locker room in Pennsylvania for a strong second half?" Santorum said.
"Pennsylvania and half the other people in this country have yet to be heard. We're going to go out and campaign here and across this nation to make sure their voices are heard in the next few months."
Though Santorum won the last primary in Louisiana by nearly 23 points, Romney has since stacked up endorsements from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, and former President George H. W. Bush.
Tuesday night, Romney appeared to be looking past the primaries to another competitor entirely.
"The president has pledged to transform America and he's spent the last four years laying the foundation for a new government centered society. I will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of an opportunity society lead by free people and free enterprises," he told supporters.
"We have a duty, a sacred duty to restore the promise of America and we'll do it because we believe in America."
Candidates must secure 1,144 delegates to officially lay claim to the Republican presidential nomination.
Romney has already crossed the halfway point with 648 delegates, according to CNN projections. Santorum has 264.
Romney went winless in the Deep South, where Santorum swept primaries in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. But as the upcoming races head north, April could prove to be a tough month for his campaign.
In addition to Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania, April primaries include Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Rhode Island.
Santorum told CNN's Piers Morgan that his campaign is looking forward to May, when many conservative states hold their primaries.
"The month of May is rich with delegates and our strong states for us, states like Texas and Arkansas and Kentucky and Indiana, West Virginia, North Carolina. Those are the states that we know can get this back, right back to where it is right now, which is a lot closer than Mitt Romney and the pundits are spinning," he said. "It's a very close race and by the end of May we expect this race to be very close to even."
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(Source: CNN)
