Latinos are going to be one of the most important groups to watch this election year -- if not the most important group -- as no other population has grown more in the U.S. over the last decade.

A new Pew Hispanic Center poll out Wednesday finds, as reported by our sister site NBC Latino:

- 75% say they prefer a bigger, expanded role for govt, much more than the general public,
- Less than 1-in-5 (19 percent) believes in smaller government, and
- Though 32 percent consider themselves conservative (compared with 34 percent of the general public), 30 percent say they are either liberal or very liberal, a higher number than the general public at 21 percent.

A roundup of front pages:

The New York Times: “Romney adds 3 victories and clashes with Obama.”
The Washington Post: “Romney bolsters his case to GOP with triple win.”
The Wall Street Journal: “Romney rolls up three wins.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Romney hat trick.”
The Wisconsin State Journal: “Romney tightens grip on GOP nomination.”
The Green Bay Press-Gazette: “Romney takes state, momentum.”
The Baltimore Sun: “Romney sweep.”
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Santorum steels self to extend campaign.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer: “With hope fading, Santorum staying in.”

GINGRICH: “Gingrich said Tuesday he is committed to carrying the banner of bold conservative colors all the way to Tampa to ensure, in his words, ‘the Republican Party never abandons the timeless conservative principles,’” the AP writes.

ROMNEY: “Mitt Romney won the Maryland Republican presidential primary broadly and deeply, besting chief rival Rick Santorum among conservatives as well as moderates and emerging as the runaway favorite of those who care most about beating President Barack Obama and fixing the economy,” per the AP. “The trend was similar if less convincing in Wisconsin, Tuesday's other big win for Romney, where he made inroads with the right but faced a strong challenge for the votes of the young and evangelicals.”

GOP 12’s Heinze: “For months, Mitt Romney’s detractors have warned that he’s too moderate to win hardcore conservatives, too rich to connect with downscale voters, too cautious to rally Tea Party supporters, and too Mormon to convert evangelicals. Tuesday’s primaries, however, show these demographic groups suddenly moving into Romney’s camp.”

The New York Daily News’ lede: “Welcome to November.”

SANTORUM: The L.A. Times: “Rick Santorum rolls a gutter ball in Wisconsin GOP primary.”

Though Santorum refused to get out of the race last night, the Boston Globe’s Johnson writes that he “has begun to concede the 2012 race in his own way.”

More of this is likely to come… Charles Krauthammer said Santorum should drop out. “He's got a future,” Krauthammer said on Fox, “and why would he want to run three weeks from now in his home state where there's no upside? He's expected. He's expected, you're expected to win your home state. ... If he loses in his home state, he undoes all the good he did up until now….”

So does Matthew Dowd…

And John McCain, a Romney surrogate. (By the way, when asked on CBS who Romney should pick as VP, he joked, "I think it should be Sarah Palin.")

The Philadelphia Daily News’ Baer: “Now that the Elmer Gantry tent-revival that's Rick Santorum's campaign finally is collapsing, he should fold it up and forgo his unofficial home-state primary.”

ALASKA: “[A]n ‘unprecedented number of voters’ turned out for a municipal election and multiple precincts ran out of ballots,” the AP writes.

DC: Marion Barry won the Democratic primary for his Ward 8 seat again.

MARYLAND: In a surprise of the night… “A wealthy Potomac businessman whose very candidacy challenged state Democratic leaders won a hotly contested congressional primary in Western Maryland on Tuesday, setting up a battle for the seat in November that will help decide control of the House of Representatives,” the Baltimore Sun reports. “John Delaney, a banker and first-time candidate, managed to topple state Sen. Rob Garagiola in the race, even though leading Democrats in Annapolis such as Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller had the legislator in mind when they redrew the 6th Congressional District last year to make it more competitive. Delaney, who outspent Garagiola 3-to-1, will now face Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett in November in a contest that is likely to be among the most expensive and closely watched in the country.”

On Sunday, the New York Times wrote, “Mitt Romney is on the cusp of taking firm control of the Republican nominating contest for the first time, neutralizing his most powerful critics and rallying a broad spectrum of conservatives behind him as party leaders grow increasingly eager to take on President Obama.”

More: “‘I don’t think he’s presumptive just yet, but I do think we’re near a tipping point,’ said Ed Gillespie, a former Republican Party chairman and White House counselor to President George W. Bush who supports Mr. Romney. ‘April is pretty happy hunting ground for him, and he’s got some potentially significant delegate accumulation ahead.’”

GINGRICH: He says he’d back Romney if he wins the nomination (which he has said repeatedly about any of the Republican candidates).

ROMNEY: “As Mitt Romney delivered a speech Friday afternoon to kick off his closing Wisconsin campaign push, he stood alone at the podium, surrounded by darkness, a solitary figure at center stage,” the Boston Globe’s Johnson writes. “It was emblematic of where Romney has come in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, and the status he could solidify after Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary.”

Mitch McConnell on CNN: “I think he’s going to be an excellent candidate, and I think the chances are overwhelming that he will be our nominee.”

The New York Post on Romney’s chances: “Mitt lookin’ like the Big Cheese.”

“Appearing ever-more confident in Wisconsin’s primary, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney focused entirely on President Obama during a campaign trip and predicted a victory that could effectively seal the nomination for him,” AP writes.

Romney got Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R) endorsement on Meet the Press. Johnson is a Tea Party favorite. Of that endorsement, the New York Post calls it “‘Tea’ time for Romney.”

“Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday became the latest to blast Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney for his view of Russia, saying the former Massachusetts governor is unknowledgeable about foreign policy,” the Boston Globe writes. Biden said, “He just seems to be uninformed or stuck in a Cold War mentality. I think what the exchange did [is] it exposes how little Governor Romney knows about foreign policy.”

Romney swatted back: “Raising taxes on American job creators is apparently not enough to satisfy President’s Obama’s trillion-dollar spending addiction.”

The DNC attacked Romney for embracing Paul Ryan’s budget plan with this web video centered on economic inequality.

SANTORUM: On Meet the Press, Santorum was still comparing himself to “David” against “Goliath.” He said Wisconsin’s not do or die, but he has to win Pennsylvania. “We have to win Pennsylvania,” he said, “and we’re going to win Pennsylvania. I have no doubt about that.”

The New York Times on Santorum’s “Big Lebowski” strategy: “Mr. Santorum dropped in to Pla-Mor Lanes here on Sunday afternoon, his fourth visit to a bowling alley in Wisconsin, as part of what appears to be a clear effort to drive home his working-class credentials to voters. It is a comfortable setting for Mr. Santorum, who grew up bowling with his father and even took Bowling 101 for credit at Penn State.”

The New York Daily News looks at how Catholics haven’t been voting for Santorum.

He went after JFK again in an op-ed on Real Clear Politics sister site, Real Clear Religion: “The idea of strict or absolute separation of church and state is not and never was the American model.” (Hat tip: GOP 12)

Newt Gingrich praised Romney for getting Paul Ryan’s endorsement, but Rick Santorum? He says Ryan’s plan doesn’t go far enough.

ARIZONA: State Rep. Matt Heinz is staying in the race against former Gabrielle Giffords staffer Ron Barber.

MASSACHUSETTS: A Boston Globe poll finds incumbent Sen. Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren in a tight race, with Brown up 37%-35%, with 26% undecided.

NEW JERSEY: The special election date is set to replace Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ).

“On Wisconsin TV, Rick Santorum is getting pummeled as someone who doesn't understand the economy. On the radio, he's portrayed as squishy on funding for women's health care provider Planned Parenthood. In mailings, Santorum has ‘crazy ideas’ that the state's Republican voters are asked to reject in their presidential primary next week,” the AP reports. “Yet again, the White House hopeful finds himself on the short end of a lopsided ad battle with rival Mitt Romney and his deep-pocketed allies. Santorum and his supporters are fighting back by calling the prospect of a Romney nomination a ‘disaster,’ but the counterpunches are hardly landing with the same power.”

ROMNEY: The Washington Post: “Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is preparing to broaden his challenge to President Obama’s management of foreign affairs, sensing political vulnerability in an area in which the incumbent has received his strongest public support.”

What about W? “Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is refusing to say whether he's seeking the endorsement of former President George W. Bush,” the AP writes. “Romney and his Republican rivals on the campaign trail have intentionally ignored the 43rd president for months. But his absence has been more pronounced over the last seven days as Romney trumpets endorsements from Bush's father and younger brother, former Florida. Gov. Jeb Bush.”

And The Hill takes that up too: “Mitt Romney is facing a dilemma in how to publicly tackle George W. Bush’s tenure. Some of Bush’s relatives have recently endorsed Romney, and he will likely be asked about Bush’s legacy and policies on the campaign trail.”

Chris Christie endorsed Mitt Romney, but does he have his sights on running in an open seat in 2016? "In terms of me, I'll be much more ready four years from now,” he told Oprah Winfrey. (Hat tip: Political Wire.)

Speaking of lukewarm endorsements, here’s Marco Rubio: "There are a lot of other people out there that some of us wish had run for president -- but they didn't."

SANTORUM: Wisconsin might be tough for Santorum, because his base has proven to be evangelicals. In places Santorum has won (and where exit polls are available), evangelicals averaged 72% of the population. He hasn’t won anywhere where evangelicals were less than 57% of the population. But in the NBC-Marist poll, 41% said they were evangelicals. And in 2008, just 38% of Wisconsin Republican primary voters said they were born-again or evangelical Christians.

“Mitt Romney had Michigan, Newt Gingrich had Georgia, and now Rick Santorum is hoping Pennsylvania can provide the hometown boost to help justify staying in the Republican presidential race,” USA Today writes, adding, “Both Romney and Gingrich placed a high priority on winning their home turf, and Pennsylvania's April 24 contest has become critical for Santorum as Romney has racked up endorsements and a lead in polls in advance of Tuesday's Wisconsin primary.”

The Democratic Governors Association today announced it raised approximately $8 million in the first three months of 2012 -- over $2 million more than in the first quarter during the comparable 2008 cycle.

NORTH DAKOTA: Heidi Heitkamp (D), running for the U.S. Senate, is out with her first ad. It’s now the second anti-Washington ad from Democrats. Montana Sen. Jon Tester came out with his last week.

From his home state of Wisconsin, Rep. Paul Ryan endorsed Mitt Romney ahead of Tuesday's primary there. He said Romney "is the best person to be president" and "best person to beat" President Obama.

"Mitt Romney is clearly that person," he said this morning on Fox and Friends.

He said he "spent a good deal of time with Romney" and "I am convinced Mitt Romney has the skills, principle, courage, and tenacity to do what it takes to get America back on track."

He also stressed that the "primary could enter a phase when it becomes counterproductive if this drags on much longer."

He added that he hasn't been able to touch base with Rick Santorum yet, will do so later today, but the point he would make to him, Ryan said -- after spending the last six months figuring out what it takes to run and fund a presidential campaign -- is that he's "convinced if this drags out into the summer, it's just going to make it tougher to beat Barack Obama. The more we drag it out, the harder it is to beat" Obama. He said conservatives need to “coalesce."

Ryan has for the past six months led the Republican National Committee's presidential fundraising efforts as head of the RNC's Presidential Trust.

GINGRICH: “Newt Gingrich's campaign is laying off a third of its paid staff, replacing its campaign manager, and lightening the campaign schedule as he continues with poor finishes in elections and is receiving little incoming money for his campaign,” NBC’s Alex Moe reports.

Politico was the first news organization to report that development.

The New York Daily News calls Gingrich cutting staff a “last-ditch effort.”

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond on the move: "We are not going to cede to Mitt Romney's strategy to take the party down." (h/t: GOP 12).

PAUL: Remember him? The New York Times asks: “Whatever happened to Ron Paul? He came in second in the New Hampshire primary. He has raised more money than any Republican candidate except for Mitt Romney. His campaign rallies still draw thousands of fervent supporters, far more than any of his rivals’. College students give him rock-star treatment, and he is planning rallies at 30 campuses over two months. But turn those strengths into a candidacy with a real shot at the Republican presidential nomination? It never happened.”

ROMNEY: “Mitt Romney trails Barack Obama by 19 points in basic popularity as the 2012 presidential contest inches closer to the main event, with a record 50 percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll now rating Romney unfavorably overall,” ABC says. “Thirty-four percent hold a favorable opinion of Romney, the lowest for any leading presidential candidate in ABC/Post polls in primary seasons since 1984. His unfavorable score is higher than Obama ever has received.”

A Franklin and Marshall poll, though, shows Romney down just 2 points in the Pennsylvania primary now to Santorum, 30%-28%. GOP 12 notes, “Romney has shaved off 13% of Rick Santorum's lead in PA in one month.”

On The Tonight Show, Romney derided Santorum as a “press secretary.”

Romney also had this health-care exchange with Leno: "People with pre-existing conditions, as long as they have been insured before, they are going to be able to continue to have insurance," Romney said, describing his vision for health care if the Affordable Care Act were to be struck down or repealed.

"Suppose they haven't been insured," Leno countered.

"If they are 45 years old and they show up and say I want insurance because I have heart disease, it's like, ‘Hey guys. We can't play the game like that. You've got to get insurance when you are well and then if you get ill, you are going to be covered,’" Romney responded.

But when Leno pushed back, telling Romney he had friends who had worked in the auto industry who had never had insurance before and now were able to get coverage, Romney seemed to soften his stance somewhat.

"We'll look at a circumstance where someone is ill and hasn't been insured so far, but people who have the chance to be insured – if you are working in the auto business for instance, the companies carry insurance, they insure their employees, you look at the circumstances that exist – but people who have done their best to get insured are going to be able to be covered," Romney said. "But you don't want everyone saying, ‘I am going to sit back until I get sick and then go buy insurance.’ That doesn't make sense. But you get defined rules and get people in who are playing by the rules."

Politico: “At Mitt Romney’s proposed California beach house, the cars will have their own separate elevator.” (Here’s how car elevators work.)

Norm Ornstein writes that Paul Ryan’s plan matters even if it doesn’t go anywhere now, because it’s close to being official GOP policy, since Romney’s embraced it.

McCain and former Sen. Feingold want campaign finance back in the spotlight.

The Hill: “Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) predicted there would be ‘major scandals’ as a result of the rise of super-PACs thanks to the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court.”

FLORIDA: The New York Times: “Florida, which is expected to be a vital swing state once again in this year’s presidential election, is enrolling fewer new voters than it did four years ago as prominent civic organizations have suspended registration drives because of what they describe as onerous restrictions imposed last year by Republican state officials.”

MASSACHUSETTS: “In a surprising move, US Senator Scott Brown has transferred out of the Massachusetts Army National Guard to a unit in Maryland, allowing him to work in a major position at the National Guard’s Pentagon office,” the Boston Globe reports.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has announced he is endorsing Mitt Romney to be the Republican presidential nominee. McCarthy becomes the second member of House Republican leadership to do so, after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced his endorsement of Romney on Meet the Press on March 4th. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has not waded into the race.

McCarthy will also act as the California Statewide Chair for the Romney campaign.

"After a long and grueling primary, it is clear that Mitt Romney is the best candidate to face President Obama and fix the mess of his one and only term," McCarthy said in a statement. "Republicans need to unite and work together if we plan to take back the White House and put in place policies that will get our nation back on a path to prosperity by reducing taxes, shrinking government, and empowering the private sector. I am proud to support Mitt Romney and urge my fellow Republicans to do the same."