CARNEGIE, PA -- If there was any question about how important Pennsylvania is to Rick Santorum's presidential campaign, the former Keystone State senator put it to rest today: It's a must win.
 
Speaking to reporters after a stop here at Bob's Diner, Santorum nodded his head as he faced a question about whether or not he needs to defeat rival Mitt Romney in his home state for his campaign to continue. "We have to win here," he stated. "As I said last night, the people of Pennsylvania know me."
 
After losing Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, DC (where he was not on the ballot), Santorum's long-shot chance at the GOP nomination became even longer Tuesday night. He has guaranteed a win in the state he represented for 16 years in Congress. But now, with his back against the wall and calls for him to exit the race growing louder, he acknowledges the need for a victory on April 24.   
 
Hours earlier, campaign aides were more measured when addressing the importance of Pennsylvania. Moments after Santorum exited the stage on Tuesday night as results from the Badger State showed a Romney victory, Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters the state would be just as important to Romney as it is to Santorum.
 
“Pennsylvania is pivotal to our campaign. But it’s pivotal to Romney’s as well because it's – if we head into May with that win, we have momentum going into the states that swing back in our direction. And that’s his worst nightmare, because he wanted this thing to be over a long time ago," Gidley said.
 
Campaign aides point to the delegate-rich Texas, which holds its primary at the end of May, as the light at the end of a tough tunnel. But Pennsylvania is the only state Santorum has a realistic shot at winning in the month of April, and going into next month without momentum could cost the lead in even his most favorable of states.
 
On top of that, the state that Santorum calls home is also the one that delivered him a nearly 20-point loss in his 2006 Senate re-election bid. While his presidential campaign has largely been viewed as an underdog success story, a loss in Pennsylvania could mean he exits the race with another tough loss in his home state.
 
But Santorum feels times have changed, and so have the wants of the electorate.
 
“It’s a whole different world this time around. First of all, I’m running for president, not running for the Senate," he said. "It’s a whole different environment."

"The contrast we can provide in this election, someone from a blue-collar, working-class town in Butler, Pennsylvania, grew up in government housing, who clawed his way ... through the political process, never being anybody’s favorite, always being the underdog, always being someone that that was discounted, and I think folks in Pennsylvania have, for a long time, admired that story and can relate to that story. And I think they will again in this election cycle," he said.

A 2012 campaign that had been expected to largely center on President Obama's management of the economy has expanded to broader terrain as the general election battle takes shape.

That was evident in Mitt Romney's speech Wednesday to a group of newspaper reporters and editors, which marked the Republican presidential frontrunner’s first step toward a campaign directly aimed at Obama, and not Republican foes. The speech, delivered 24 hours after Obama addressed the same group, was intended for a general election audience just as much as for voters in the remaining Republican primaries

"With all the challenges the nation faces, this is not the time for President Obama's hide and seek campaign," Romney told the audience.

The speech was meant to cast Obama as opaque in his plans for the country should he win a second term -- not just as it relates to the economy, but on energy, foreign policy, and a litany of other issues.

It was just a preliminary offering by Romney as the general election begins to get underway. But it also served as a reminder that the campaign won't just be about the economy, which has shown tentative signs of improvement.

It was, in essence, a speech recasting Romney's message for the general election. And that message was far broader than the stump speech focused almost exclusively on the economy that the former Massachusetts governor had practiced for months.

Obama on Tuesday addressed the group and delivered remarks that were some of the most political this year. He launched an attack on the House Republican budget authored by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, and by extension, Romney.

"This congressional Republican budget is something different altogether. It is a Trojan Horse," Obama said in his remarks. "Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism."

In response, Romney not only defended the Ryan budget from "straw men" attacks by the president, but also welcomed to stack up the Republican plan and Romney's own proposals against the president's.

"I’m offering a clear choice and a different path," he said. "Unlike the president, I have a record that I am proud to run on."

Romney was happy to make the Ryan plan a topic of debate this election cycle, alongside issues of energy and foreign policy – suggested by Romney’s attacks on Solyndra and Obama’s recent hot mic encounter with the Russian president.

The Republican argument against Obama, in short, has evolved into a broader portfolio. The election won’t just be fought over whether the president has a a winning or losing record on the economy, an increasingly tall order for the GOP given indicators pointing toward an economic recovery, albeit slowly.

That’s a much more expansive vision for the 2012 fight than Romney had described for much of the campaign.
Romney spoke almost exclusively of his business acumen vis-à-vis Obama as his foremost qualifying trait for much of the primary.

“I also think it's helpful to have a leader in Washington who knows how to bring people together and who understands in his heart and in his core how to make the economy work for the American people,” he said Dec. 16 in Iowa.

He hit his rival, Rick Santorum, in late February for arriving late to a realization that “this is going to be a campaign about the economy.”

Romney hardly jettisoned his attacks on Obama’s economic stewardship in today’s speech, accusing the president of having enacted policies that slowed the pace of the recovery.

But the former governor’s attacks weren’t solely based on the presumption that the election would turn on voters’ judgment of Obama’s first four years in office. Romney’s speech, instead, focused on the next four.

“Unlike President Obama, you don’t have to wait until after the election to find out what I believe in – or what my plans are,” he said. “I have a pro-growth agenda that will get our economy back on track – and get Americans back to work.”

WASHINGTON -- At his speech before newspaper editors in DC today, Mitt Romney also made this not-so-subtle point: It's time for Republicans to wrap up the nomination process as soon as possible.

Asked during a question-and-answer session after his remarks whether he has spoken to Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich about exiting the GOP contest, Romney quipped, "No, I haven't. But now that you bring it up..."

As laughter subsided, he added that "people are free to make their own decision."

But he noted confidently, "I hope that we're able to resolve our nomination process as soon as possible." He added, "I'd like to focus our time and attention on those key battleground states and raising the funds to be somewhat competitive with the president and his billion-dollar quest."

His mathematical chances of winning the GOP nomination are slim. He came up short in the crucial races of Michigan and Ohio. And he just lost the GOP primary contests in DC, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

But Rick Santorum -- despite starting out this presidential season as an afterthought -- has already accomplished a few important feats that shouldn't be overlooked as attention begins turning to the general election. First, with limited campaign funds and almost no real infrastructure, he ultimately emerged as Mitt Romney's chief rival.

Jae C. Hong / AP

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum sits in a booth at Bob's Diner in Carnegie, Pa.

In fact, Santorum's actually won more states so far than Mike Huckabee did in 2008, 11-8. And he's won as many contests as Romney did four years ago.

Second, even if he doesn't win another primary race, Santorum could be a significant player in the 2016 or 2020 presidential contests, although he would face plenty of serious competition (from the likes of Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Bob McDonnell, etc.).

And third, and perhaps most importantly, Santorum has repaired some of the political damage he sustained in 2006, when he lost his Senate re-election bid in Pennsylvania by a whopping 18 percentage points, 59%-41%.

"It's hard to argue Sen. Santorum hasn't significantly raised his profile nationally among Republican voters, donors and members of the media due to his primary campaign performance," GOP strategist Danny Diaz tells First Read.  

Of course, it's exactly that repaired political image, Republican political observers say, that could be at stake in the April 24 primary in his home state of Pennsylvania. A win there could justify him staying in the presidential contest -- and could serve as a springboard to the May primary races.

But a loss in his home state could be embarrassing. A recent Quinnipiac University poll, conducted before Tuesday's primaries, showed Santorum leading Romney by only six points in the state, 41%-35%.

As GOP political consultant Mike Murphy, who once worked for Romney, tweeted, "Will [Santorum] figure out this week that his potential '16 hand is now stronger than his '12 hand and fold? Or stay in and ruin his long game?"

And if he decides to stay in the race, how he campaigns could be just as important to his reputation, Republicans argue.

"The story until now is a pretty compelling one about a leader who rose from also-ran status to one-time front-runner. If he gets out now, or stays in but runs a positive-only campaign, that narrative will remain largely intact," says GOP political adviser Todd Harris.

"But if he continues with a quixotic slash-and-burn campaign against the man everyone knows is going to be our nominee, he risks being remembered not as a come-from-behind leader, but as a petulant politician who put selfish self-interest ahead of defeating President Obama."

WASHINGTON -- With last night's hat trick of decisive primary state wins behind him, a victorious Mitt Romney launched Wednesday into his general election attack against President Obama, whom he accused of "hide and seek" politics that obscure his true agenda for a second term.

Casting Obama as both unfocused and partisan on economic issues, Romney questioned his Democratic rival's "candor" and painted the fall campaign as a referendum on his policies.

Referencing the moment last week when Obama was overheard suggesting to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he would have more “flexibility" in nuclear negotiations during a second term, Romney said the incident reveals that the president "does not want to share his real plans before the election, either with the public or with the press." 

"By 'flexibility,' he means that 'what the American public doesn't know won't hurt him.'" he told a conference of newspaper editors in Washington DC. "He is intent on hiding. You and I will have to do the seeking."

Romney, who has taken on the mantle of presumptive nominee despite the persistence of Rick Santorum's dwindling campaign, also said the president's strategy to resolve the nation's ballooning entitlement costs amounts only to finger-pointing.

"This election will be about principle. Freedom and opportunity will be on the ballot," the former Massachusetts governor said. "I am offering a real choice and a new beginning. I am running for president because I have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess."

Obama, who spoke in the same venue yesterday, used his remarks for a blistering broadside against the Republican agenda, mentioning Romney by name for the first time this cycle. 

Labeling as "social Darwinism" the budget measures championed by Rep. Paul Ryan and embraced by Romney, Obama said Republicans have "proposed a budget so far to the right it makes the Contract with America look like the New Deal."

Romney said Wednesday that Obama has greatly exaggerated the impact of the Ryan plan.

"President Obama came here yesterday and railed against arguments no one is making – and criticized policies no one is proposing," he said. "It’s one of his favorite strategies – setting up straw men to distract from his record."

Romney, who received muted applause from the audience of journalists, also disputed Obama's assertion that the vaunted GOP icon Ronald Reagan would be unable to succeed in today's GOP contest.

The Republican presidential frontrunner’s remarks to the group came in a hotel ballroom across the street from the venue where Romney announced the end of his 2008 run at an annual conference of conservatives four years ago.

President Obama signed into law new legislation prohibiting insider trading for members of Congress and their staff in a ceremony attended by lawmakers in both parties.

Obama called the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which makes it illegal for members of Congress to make decisions in the stock market based on non-public information they receive in the course of their work on Capitol Hill, a “good and necessary thing.”

He added that public servants “were sent here to serve the American people and look out for their interests, not look out for our own interests.”

Striking a populist tone, Obama said that, like corporations, politicians should also be barred from having an unfair advantage over ordinary Americans.

“The powerful shouldn't get to create one set of rules for themselves and one set of rules for everyone else. If we expect to apply that to our most powerful corporations it should definitely apply to our elected officials.”

Obama also alluded to the looming general election fight, a preview of which he offered yesterday during a speech against the Republican budget put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan which he said represented a “radical vision for America.”

“In the months to come we are going to have plenty of debates over competing visions for this country that we all love,” Obama said. “Those are all debates that I'm looking forward to having but  today I want to thank all the members of congress who came together and worked to get this done."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) praised the bipartisan nature of the bill, releasing a statement that said in part: “Rather than letting our differences divide us, as so often happens in Washington, this bipartisan bill shows that we can come together and deliver results for the American people."

The bipartisan delegation that attended the bill signing consisted of Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), Rep. Robert Dold (R-IL) Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN).

Obama noted that Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) who originally introduced the bill in 2006 was supposed to be in attendance but was tending to a broken leg. 

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.

After last night’s sweep, the writing’s on the wall: Romney, unless the extraordinary occurs, is going to be the GOP nominee… And Santorum isn’t going to win… Updated delegate count: Romney 573, Santorum 212, Gingrich 137, Paul 34… Santorum’s no-win situation heading into Pennsylvania… Obama’s speech yesterday achieved one thing: It drove the conservative intelligentsia crowd nuts… Romney, at 11:45 am ET, gets chance to respond to Obama at the very same venue… And Scott Brown embraces Obama.

Jason Cohn / Reuters

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum addresses supporters at his Wisconsin and Maryland primary night rally in Mars, Pennsylvania, April 3, 2012.

*** The writing is on the wall: Last night’s GOP primary contests didn’t contain any new revelations: Mitt Romney won a contested state in Wisconsin, but it wasn’t pretty (the margin was just five points, 43%-38%, despite his endorsements and clear financial edge); he racked up a HUGE proportion of the delegates (so far picking up 83 to Rick Santorum’s nine -- that’s right, Santorum couldn’t even win 10% of avail delegates last night); and the demographics told the big story (about 40% in Wisconsin were evangelicals, below the 50% of higher mark in contests that Santorum has won). Given that we didn’t learn anything new in Wisconsin -- or in Maryland or DC -- the writing is on the wall: Romney, unless the extraordinary occurs, is going to be the Republican presidential nominee. And Santorum, unless there’s a miracle, cannot win. Here’s NBC’s delegate count: Romney 573, Santorum 212, Gingrich 137, Paul 34.

*** Santorum’s no-win situation: So the question is no longer IF Romney is going to be the nominee; rather, it’s WHEN Santorum will bow out. And in his speech last week, the former Pennsylvania senator made it clear that he’s still in this race. “Pennsylvania and half the other people in this country have yet to be heard,” he said in his concession speech last night, per NBC’s Morgan Parmet. “And we're going to go out and campaign here and across this nation to make sure that their voices are heard in the next few months.” Even Romney, in his victory address, acknowledged that the GOP race was moving to Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New York (on April 24). Here’s the thing: Had Romney won Wisconsin by 10 points -- instead of five -- Santorum right now might be more open to exiting the race. Nevertheless, in the next 72 hours, he will hear plenty of voices telling him to get out. After all, demographically, Pennsylvania is a state that Santorum should lose if it weren’t his home state: It’s a combination of Illinois (Philly suburbs = Chicago ‘burbs) and Ohio. And even if he does win it, pundits will dismiss the victory because he won his home state. It’s a no-win situation.

*** He drives me crazy … and I can’t help myself: President Obama’s speech assailing the Ryan budget plan achieved one thing for certain yesterday: It drove the conservative intelligentsia crowd nuts. Townhall.com wrote: "Today we witnessed something truly remarkable. Barack Obama managed to out-do himself by uncorking what very well may have been the most dishonest, demagogic, and bitterly partisan speech of his presidency." The responses from the elected Republicans, while not QUITE as vitriolic, were similarly worded and focused. Bottom line: Their reaction seemed to be: How dare the president campaign against us!!!! And as we pointed out yesterday, Obama isn’t necessarily running against Mitt Romney; he’s running against the Republican Party brand -- and making sure that Romney owns that brand. In fact, Romney’s biggest challenge over the next two or three months will be for him to differentiate himself from the brand. There’s been a lot of focus of late on how damaged Romney has become in this process (his high negatives with indies, etc). But we’ve noticed a larger trend: The brand of the GOP is what’s been damaged; Romney may simply be collateral damage. And this is why he has to figure out a way to either improve the GOP’s brand or differentiate himself. Which can he achieve?

*** Romney’s chance to respond: Speaking of Obama’s speech yesterday, Romney today gets to deliver an address at the very same venue -- before newspaper editors in DC -- at 11:45 am ET. And while Romney hit the president during his victory speech last night (“Under this president's watch, more Americans have lost their jobs than during any other period since the Depression”), many political observers will be closely watching to see how he responds to Obama’s remarks from yesterday, as well as how responds to the three questions he’ll get from the audience. Remember, the day after primary wins haven’t always been kind to Romney and his campaign, and this speech before America’s newspaper editors has taken on more importance because of how the president chose to use the venue yesterday… 

*** Yesterday’s two extraordinary speeches: Yet as we begin turning to the general election, yesterday was a pretty remarkable day. We saw Obama lay out his party’s indictment of the GOP and its governing philosophy: “Ronald Reagan, who, as I recall, is not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control, that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases. Did it multiple times. He could not get through a Republican primary today.” And also yesterday, we saw Romney lay out his indictment of Obama and the Democrats: “In Barack Obama’s government-centered society, government spending will always increase because…there’s no reason to stop it. There’s always someone who is entitled to something more, and who will vote for anyone who will give them something more.” So yesterday was a day that people will be able to look back on and see what the two distinct economic visions are for the country.

*** On the trail, per NBC’s Adam Perez: After his speech in DC today, Romney campaigns in Pennsylvania… Santorum also is in the Keystone State, hitting Carnegie, Holidaysburg, and Mechanicsburg… Gingrich is in North Carolina… And Paul remains out in California.

*** Scott Brown embraces Obama: It’s not every day you see this kind of press release from a Republican senator: “Two major pieces of legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) will be signed into law by President Obama at White House ceremonies this week. As the first to introduce both the STOCK Act and crowdfunding legislation in the Senate, Senator Brown was invited and will attend both signing ceremonies. ‘I’m honored to receive these invitations from President Obama and I look forward to standing next to him as he signs these bills into law.’” So we’ve seen likely Democratic opponent Elizabeth Warren star in Obama’s campaign documentary. And now Brown is shouting from the mountain top that he’ll be standing next to Obama at signing ceremonies this week. Brown has two major hurdles to overcome if he’s going to win a full term: One, he’s trying to win as a Republican in a blue state during a presidential year. And two, how does he avoid getting defined by Romney? Well, we see what Brown is TRYING to do, have photo-ops with Romney’s opponent. Here’s betting we see Brown use his appearances at these signing ceremonies in TV ads while trying like mad to avoid appearances with Romney. 

Countdown to the CT, DE, NY, PA, and RI primaries: 20 days
Countdown to Election Day: 216 days

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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.”

“In combative campaign form, President Barack Obama accused Republican leaders on Tuesday of becoming so radical and dangerously rigid that even the late Ronald Reagan, one of their most cherished heroes, could not win a GOP primary if he were running today,” the AP’s Feller writes. “Obama, in a stinging speech to an audience of news executives, had unsparing words for Republicans on Capitol Hill as well as the man he is most likely to face off against in November, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The president depicted the election as a choice between a Democratic candidate who wants to use government to help people succeed and Republicans who would abandon a basic compact with society and let most people struggle at the expense of the rich.”

“Few would quarrel with President Barack Obama's point that the Republican Party has drifted to the right in recent years, disavowing ideas it once embraced -- even created. But making that case in a major campaign speech, Obama ignored realities in his own Democratic ranks,” the AP’s Woodward writes. “For one, it was opposition from coal-state Democrats that sank cap-and-trade legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions, not just from those arch-conservative Republicans. For another, if Republicans have moved to the right on health care, it's also true that Obama has moved to the left. He strenuously opposed a mandate forcing people to obtain health insurance until he won office and changed his mind.”

(Or one could argue, it was Obama moving to the right, since conservatives first proposed the idea of a mandate and that he’d once upon a time expressed support for a single-payer system.)

“President Obama said again Tuesday that it has been a long time since the Supreme Court struck down an economic law passed by Congress, but he mixed up the decisions and their timing,” the L.A. Times’ Savage writes.

Republicans (and conservative judges) took issue with President Obama’s challenge to the Supreme Court, saying he was “threatening” and “intimidating” the court. Of course, Republicans have long criticized “activist judges.” And Newt Gingrich, for one, called for the arrest of “radical” ones. Romney denounced Gingrich for that view, but Romney himself joked, “Isn't this wonderful to finally have a liberal talking about judicial activism?” And in 2004, he wrote: “Beware of activist judges,” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, entitled, “One Man, One Woman; A citizen’s guide to protecting marriage.”

NBC Universal announced yesterday that its USA Network will air a new restoration of the film classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Saturday April, 7 and President Obama will deliver the introduction, NBC’s Kristen Welker reports. The film is based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which tells the story of Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch, who defends an African-American man accused of rape.

Check this out: In a Pew study that asked about the media coverage of the Trayvon Martin case in Florida, “Of the 1,000 adults surveyed by Pew, 56 percent of Republicans said they felt the coverage was too heavy, compared to 25 percent of Democrats who said the story had garnered too much attention,” the U.S. News writes.

Russian spy Ann Chapman was busted, because she got too close to an Obama cabinet official, an FBI official tells the BBC.

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.”

Demographics proved to be destiny once again for Mitt Romney, who is one big step closer to wrapping up the Republican presidential nomination.

NBC News has declared Romney the winner in Wisconsin. He won 42-38 percent over Rick Santorum with 99 percent of the vote in, and familiar patterns emerged that led to his win, according to exit polls.

Santorum faced an uphill battle going into Wisconsin because, despite its blue-collar voters, Wisconsin lacked the evangelicals that have fueled his insurgent campaign. And he only won those voters by a narrow margin.

Romney also went beyond his traditional base, winning with Tea Party supporters (48-37 percent), those making below $100,000 (40-38 percent), non-college graduates (42-38 percent), and tying with very conservatives (43-43 percent).

Just 38 percent of Republican primary voters Tuesday said they were born-again or evangelical Christians in Wisconsin – the same number that said so in 2008. But Santorum won them by just a 43-39 percent margin.

Santorum has not won in a state with less than 57 percent evangelical population. The average evangelical population in states Santorum has won was 72 percent.

By contrast, the average evangelical population in states where Romney won was 36 percent, about where it was in Wisconsin Tuesday.

Voters were more downscale and blue collar than in typical Romney wins. States where he has won averaged 50 percent college grads and 33 percent making more than $100,000. In Wisconsin, 43 percent had a college degree and 26 percent said they made more than $100,000 a year. But both numbers were up from 2008.

Romney’s biggest margin was on one question. Voters said the one quality that mattered most in deciding how they would vote was being able to defeat President Obama. Almost one-in-four (36 percent) said that was their top priority, and overwhelmingly, they picked Romney by a whopping 68-23 percent margin.

After President Obama’s tough speech today on the House Republican budget, bloggers on the left lauded his critique, and those on right called his speech hallow.

Townhall.com's Guy Benson, a conservative, called the speech "Obama's worst speech yet."

"Today we witnessed something truly remarkable. Barack Obama managed to out-do himself by uncorking what very well may have been the most dishonest, demagogic, and bitterly partisan speech of his presidency."

Conservative blogger Nash Keune of The Corner says that Obama wildly misinterpreted and misrepresented the House Republican budget.

•    The president accused the House Budget Committee of breaking the Budget Control Act agreement by allocating $1.028 trillion for discretionary spending, $19 billion (or 1.8 percent) below the BCA cap. But, as Speaker Boehner noted a few weeks ago, according to Webster’s Dictionary a “cap” indicates “an upper limit” or “ceiling.” Apparently some interpreted this BCA maximum spending level as a minimum.

•    Obama said that, if the House budget passed, by the middle of the century we would have to cut spending on non-military discretionary spending (characterized as teaching, law enforcement, etc.) by 95 percent by the middle of the century, assuming that cuts are spread evenly. But this is not what the Ryan budget proposes. The House Budget details specific cuts which can be made to achieve its overall budgetary target.

•    The Ryan-Wyden Medicare plan “is a bad idea and it will ultimately end Medicare as we know it,” according to the president. Of course, this prediction is recycled from last year, even though it was named the “Lie of the Year” by Politifact. And, as Yuval Levin pointed out, the new Ryan budget is even less vulnerable to this charge than it was last year.”

(Note: What was Politifact's Lie of the Year was "Republicans voted to end Medicare," not with the additional qualifier "as we know it" -- which is an important distinction.)

On the left side, Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine argues that Obama’s speech tied Mitt Romney to the House Republican budget plan, which will frame the elections as a choice of priorities:

“Do Americans really want to undergo the fiscal pain that would be required in order to maintain the low tax rates demanded by Republicans? He has every reason to believe the answer is no...The Republican strategy has real strengths. The party’s sheer bloody-minded refusal to compromise, and its devotion to ever more radical policy agendas, has helped it to shift the terms of the debate steadily rightward. Even keeping tax rates at Clinton-era levels is now a position too left-wing for Democrats to advocate.”

Igor Volsky, of left-leaning Think Progress agrees with Obama -- saying the GOP budget would end Medicare as we know it.

“As a result, under their budget, CBO projects that average spending would rise to only $7,400 in 2030 and to only $11,100 in 2050. Since the Republican budget would convert Medicare spending into vouchers, these dollar amounts would be the amounts of the vouchers, on average...The Republican budget never specifies how it plans to enforce its cap on Medicare spending and in the absence of any other enforcement mechanism, it’s likely that the cap would be enforced by limiting the amount of vouchers provided to beneficiaries. After all, we know that capping the vouchers is the clear policy goal of Republicans—we need look no further than the budget they proposed last year. The vouchers, therefore, would likely be capped at CBO’s projected spending per beneficiary under the Republican budget: $7,400 in 2030 and $11,100 in 2050. And since these amounts would be much lower than actual costs, beneficiaries would be left to pay the difference.”

Greg Sargent, a liberal opinion blogger for the Washington Post, outlines how be believed Obama squashed the House Republican budget:

“1.Obama cast the Romney-Ryan-GOP approach as not only radical and extreme, but as a proven failure.

2. Obama defended government activism as not just morally right, but as a way to faciliate economic growth

3. Obama framed the choice as one over who sacrifices to fix the deficit....

In sum, the political case he made is threefold: The GOP approach has already failed us. In its current, more radical iteration, it’s a departure from longtime consensus about government’s proper role in spurring economic growth and in guarding against the excesses of unfettered capitalism. And that addressing inequality and tax unfairness isn’t just morally right; it’s the only way to secure the country’s future.”

Mitt Romney cruised to a blowout victory in Maryland, giving him one more notch in his belt as he moves closer to the Republican nomination.

NBC News has declared Romney the winner “by a significant margin” in Maryland. All votes are not yet counted. Polls closed at 8 p.m. ET.

The state lined up favorably for Romney, according to the exit polls. Romney has won in states with fewer evangelicals, where people are highly educated and wealthier than average. Those familiar demographic patterns held once again.

Less than one-in-four (37 percent) said they were born again or evangelical Christians, almost six-in-10 (57 percent) had a college degree, and nearly half (48 percent) said they made more than $100,000 a year.

Romney cleaned up with seniors, those who declared themselves “somewhat conservative,” those who said they are “moderate,” and among those who said the economy, beating President Obama, and having the right experience to be president were their top priorities.

Romney also struggled with groups he’s traditionally struggled with. Even though he won those 65 and older in a landslide, he lost those in the 40-49 age group by 15 points to Rick Santorum. He also lost those who wanted a “true conservative” (61-12 percent), someone with “strong moral character” (52-26 percent), and for whom abortion was their top issue (63-16).

The margin was also narrow among those who considered themselves “very conservative” (40-40) and born-again Christians (41-38).

But, fortunately for Romney, the state’s Republicans were less staunchly conservative than in states he lost. More than a third (34 percent) said Santorum was “too conservative.”

Republicans in the state were also pessimistic about the state of the economy with just about a quarter (22 percent) who said the economy is starting to recover, but half (48 percent) said it will get worse.

Romney may very well come out of Maryland with all of the state’s 37 delegates, as some are given to the statewide winner and the rest awarded winner-take-all by congressional district. If Romney wins each district, which is likely, he will win all of the delegates.

The majority of voters (51 percent) came from either the Baltimore or DC suburbs -- 33 percent from Baltimore suburbs, 18 percent from DC suburbs.

Updated 11:19 p.m. - With the general election matchup against President Obama beginning to take shape, Mitt Romney swept a trio of Republican primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.

Romney strengthened his grip on the GOP nomination by virtue of winning the three states, the most competitive of which was in Wisconsin, a state seen as necessary for Rick Santorum, the chief conservative rival to Romney, to retaining viable hopes of winning the nomination.

M. Spencer Green / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declares victory April 3 in the Wisconsin presidential primary.

But Santorum vowed to press forward with his campaign, characterizing the primary as only having reached "halftime," while Romney kept his focus squarely on Obama in his victory party remarks Tuesday night.

Watch Santorum's speech on msnbc.com

"The president has pledged to 'transform America,' and he has spent the last four years laying the foundation for a new government-centered society," Romney said in Wisconsin. "I will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of our Opportunity Society, led by free people and free enterprises."

The former Massachusetts governor had looked to move closer to putting the drawn-out Republican primary behind him, and beginning a new chapter – the general election campaign versus Obama.

Watch Romney's speech on msnbc.com

Nonetheless, Romney had battled fiercely in Wisconsin against Santorum, who needed a win there to sustain his campaign heading into the next group of contests on April 24, which includes his native Pennsylvania.

Romney's victories came at a point when the Republican Party has shown signs of rallying behind Romney, and a general election that has shown increasing signs of shifting into gear.

Related: Romney cruises to big win in Maryland

That sentiment was reflected in Romney's celebratory remarks, where he made no mention at all of his Republican rivals, and rolled out a new refrain decrying "Barack Obama's government-centered society."

That came after an especially political speech this afternoon by the president, which featured pointed criticism of both Romney and the House Republican budget in anticipation of the general election.

"One of my potential opponents, Governor Romney, has said that he hoped a similar version of this plan from last year would be introduced as a bill on day one of his presidency," he said of the GOP budget blueprint recently approved by the House. "He said that he’s 'very supportive' of this new budget, and he even called it 'marvelous' -- which is a word you don’t often hear when it comes to describing a budget."

Related: Romney wins Wisconsin, moves one step closer to nomination

"It’s a word you don’t often hear generally," Obama added, to laughter, in a thinly-veiled swipe at Romney's personality.

Obama's campaign has also ramped up its attacks against Romney, portraying him as an ally of oil companies in a new television ad airing in key swing states.

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman who emerged as one of Romney's most effective surrogate for Romney in the past few days, and a favorite among conservatives to round out Romney's ticket, fired back at Obama at Romney's victory event.

"We found out today that he's going to divide us in order to distract us," he said.

But there's still the unresolved matter of concluding the Republican primary. Both Santorum and Gingrich have defiantly vowed to continue forward with their campaigns, though their strategies of winning the nomination hinge on wresting the GOP nod away from Romney at the August convention. Both candidates have events on their schedules in the next few days, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul added new events on Tuesday in Texas and California.

Santorum emerged at his election night event to declare the GOP primary at its halfway point.

"This is why we came back to southwestern Pennsylvania: to kick off the second half," he said in a speech leveling sharp criticism of Romney. "Ladies and gentlemen, Pennsylvania and half the other people in this country have yet to be heard."

A total of 92 delegates are at stake in Tuesday's three contests, with 1,144 needed to secure the Republican nomination. Romney entered Tuesday having accrued 490 total delegates through March 24, and his margin over other candidates will grow as a result of tonight's wins.

But more powerful than the widening delegate margin has been the growing cavalry of Republican figures who had previously remained neutral in the primary -- among them, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, among others -- have gotten off the fence and endorse Romney in hopes of hastening the end of the primary campaign.

That group could swell in the three-week period before primary voting resumes in five Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states -- contests where Romney is favored, aside for a more competitive showdown versus Santorum in Pennsylvania.

Whatever happened to Ron Paul? Remember him?

Beginning tonight at California State University, Chico, Paul will accelerate the pace of his campaign and attempt to become part of the national conversation once again. Over the next 40 days Paul will hold rallies at 16 college campuses across the country -- a majority of them in California and Texas -- with plans of adding several more stops before schools adjourn for the summer. 

Universities have been a friendly atmosphere for the 76-year-old presidential hopeful who attracts thousands of people to his rallies but who has yet to win a single statewide GOP contest.

“You have to reach out to more people than the Republican base,” Paul told WMAL Radio on Monday. “We’re going to have big turnouts in places where no other Republican can go. I’m going to go to Berkeley.”

Paul will hold a campaign rally on that campus Thursday -- not a typical stop for Republican presidential candidates.

According to Paul’s campaign chairman Jesse Benton, that’s the point. “Part of the reason we are going to college campuses is to register people. There are congressional districts we can win and we hope to register thousands of young people for the California primary.”

The deadline to register to vote for California’s June 5 presidential primary is May 21, and the campaign hopes the passionate young supporters they register will help Paul win a portion of the state’s 159 delegates –- which will be allocated based on the primary results in each of the 53 congressional districts.

The campaign is also focusing its efforts in Paul’s home state of Texas, which holds the second-largest number of delegates, scheduling six rallies at state universities. 

Paul is also planning a statewide TV ad buy next week, six weeks ahead of the open primary on May 29. 

Benton, who also resides in the Lone Star state, said Texans are “slow to embrace a moderate from Massachusetts and they want to vote for a Texan.”

“We are going to push real hard to let them know they have a strong, fiscal conservative Texan in the race.”

Benton said the campaign is adding staff in Texas and he will be heading up the state’s operation. 

Looking even further down the calendar, Paul plans to speak at five state conventions in an effort to win over delegates to secure the minimum threshold needed to be nominated at the Republican National Convention in August. 

“We don’t plan to get out of race until Dr. Paul is the nominee or someone else is the nominee,” Benton said. “The scores of people across the country want to vote for a constitutionalist, a real conservative, who can bring real change to the White House and they deserve to be heard.”

That said, Paul has won just 34 delegates so far, according to NBC's count. Mitt Romney has 490, Rick Santorum 203, and Newt Gingrich 137.

A generous gesture? Or an attempt to buy votes?

Wisconsin Democrats are charging the latter, saying that Mitt Romney and his campaign broke Wisconsin law by handing out free sandwiches during a campaign event at Cousins Subs in Waukesha.

Wisconsin law, the state Democratic Party says, prohibits a campaign by offering anything over $1 in value to voters to get them to the polls or to refrain from voting.

Yet after handing out subs with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Romney says:

"I want to thank you for voting. Get your friends to go vote; get some friends to go with you. That's how you can legally vote multiple times. So bring your friends out to the polling place, get out and vote. And if you want another sandwich, there are more back there."

The Romney campaign responded with this statement from spokesman Rick Gorka: "President Obama and his allies keep wading in to the Republican primary, whether voting for Mitt Romney's opponents or absurdly claiming we can't provide refreshments for volunteers. If President Obama focused half his time worrying about the economy as he does obsessing over Mitt Romney, Americans would be a lot better off."

Yet from our observations -- and from the video that the Wisconsin Democratic Party provided -- most of the people who received subs from Romney and Ryan were voters, not volunteers.

In his most explicit repudiation of his Republican rivals to date, President Obama said that the recently passed House Republican budget -- embraced by GOP front-runner Mitt Romney -- would “impose a radical vision of our country.”

“This congressional Republican budget is something different all together,” the president said in remarks to newspaper editors in DC. “It is a Trojan Horse disguised as deficit reduction plans."

He continued, “It is thinly veiled social Darwinism."

Obama said the Ryan budget, which among things proposes turning Medicare into a voucher or premium-support program, is an indication of the far-right direction that Republican Party has taken in Congress and on the campaign trail.

“Instead of moderating their views even slightly, the Republicans running Congress right now have doubled down and proposed a budget so far to the right it makes the Contract with America look like the New Deal,” Obama said, referring to the 1994 Contract of America document Republicans used to take control of Congress that year.

Pivoting to the presidential election, Obama noted Romney’s frequent praise of the Ryan budget and his aspirations to pass a similar plan if he becomes president.

“One of my potential opponents, Gov. Romney, has said that he hoped a similar version of this plan from last year would be introduced as a bill on Day One of his presidency. He said that he's very supportive of this new budget. And he even called it marvelous,” Obama said.

Fixating on Romney’s choice of words, he added that “marvelous” is a word “you don’t often hear when it comes to describing a budget.”

“It’s a word you don’t often hear generally,” he added.

But Obama sounded a warning siren over Ryan’s plan to change Medicare from its current fee-for-service status into a program in which seniors are given a voucher to pay for either the traditional service or a private-insurance option (the voucher would either pay for or offset the cost of the coverage).

“The only reason the government will save any money -- it won’t be on our books -- it’s because we’ve shifted it to seniors. They’ll bear more of the costs themselves,” Obama said.

“It’s a bad idea. And it will ultimately end Medicare as we know it.”

At the end of his speech, Obama answered three questions posed by William Dean Singleton, the chairman of the AP board of directors.

He was asked to explain his statement yesterday that the Supreme Court justices finding the health-care law unconstitutional would be an “unprecedented” event for the court.

“We have not seen a court overturn a law that was passed by Congress on an economic issue like health care that, I think, most people would clearly consider commerce,” Obama said, referring to Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate interstate commerce.

While he stayed away from the buzzword he used yesterday to criticize the notion of the law being overturned -- “judicial activism” -- Obama did repeat his statement that he has “enormous confidence” that the law will make it through the Supreme Court.

As a consequence, Obama added, “We're not spending a whole bunch of time planning for contingencies.”

Republicans –- including Romney and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan -- were quick to criticize the president’s criticism of the GOP budget.

"It's a disingenuous, fear-mongered approach, which I understand is going to catch a lot of attention," Romney said on Sean Hannity's radio show. "But if people dig a little deeper, I think they're going to understand that this is President Obama being President Obama, which is finding a way to deflect blame and to mischaracterize the efforts on the part of very thoughtful and serious minded individuals." 

And Ryan's office released a statement that said in part: “Like his reckless budgets, today's speech by President Obama is as revealing as it is disappointing: While others lead by offering real solutions, he has chosen to distort the truth and divide Americans in order to distract from his failed record." 

House Speaker John Boehner also defended the Ryan plan while excoriating Obama.

“House Republicans, led by Chairman Ryan, passed a responsible budget that would help put Americans back to work, protect our seniors, close President Obama's massive budget deficits, and do 'all of the above' to address high gas prices,” he said in a statement. “Instead of reaching across the aisle to enact the changes needed to restore America's prosperity, the president has resorted to distortions and partisan pot-shots, and recommitted himself to policies that have made our country's debt crisis worse.”   

And the Republican National Committee noted that the president’s own budget did not receive one vote in the House (it was brought to the floor in a maneuver by Republicans).

“The president's speech today at the AP Annual Luncheon exhibited the worst of desperate, deceptive politics. It requires a special kind of hypocrisy for Obama to attack Republicans for their responsible Path to Prosperity budget one week after his own tax-and-spend budget was defeated 0-414 in the House of Representatives,” said RNC spokeswoman Kristen Kukowski.

WAUKESHA, WI -- As Wisconsin voters head to the polls Tuesday, Mitt Romney was already looking past the Badger state, focusing his attention squarely on President Obama, whom he accused of failing to take responsibility for mistakes he has made as president.

"This president is unwilling to take responsibility for his mistakes, and he's going to be looking everywhere he can to find someone else to blame," Romney told roughly 100 supporters gathered in a sandwich shop here just outside Milwaukee.

Romney went on to offer a pre-buttal of President Obama's economic speech today -- happening nearly simultaneously -- saying he expected the president to attack Republicans for the pace of the economic recovery.

"Maybe he’ll look for the party that had no power whatsoever for the first two years of his administration, maybe he’ll say, 'Oh, it’s the Republicans.' But, you know, he had a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate for his first two years," Romney said. "He gets full credit or blame for what’s happened in this economy, and what’s happened to gasoline prices under his watch, and what’s happened to our schools, and what’s happened to our military forces. All these things are his responsibility while he’s president."

In Romney's remarks, he pledged to accept responsibility for mistakes he would "undoubtedly" make as president, but amid the ongoing political battle over assigning blame for rising gas prices, Romney lashed out at the president for an ad the Obama campaign released yesterday, linking Romney with "big oil" and the high price of gas.

"This is a tough time. So the president put an ad out yesterday, talking about gasoline prices and how high they are. And guess who he blamed? Me! Maybe after I'm president I can take responsibility for things I might have done wrong," Romney said. "But this president doesn't want to take responsibility for his mistakes. I mean, you talk about someone who is running as far away from Harry Truman's dictum as possible. Harry Truman had the sign on his desk that said, 'The buck stops here.' But this president is always look for somewhere else to point."

Obama's campaign was quick to respond, calling Romney's attacks "dishonest," and accusing him of muddying the president's -- and his own -- record on energy,

"Mitt Romney may try to rewrite history today, but he can’t shake away the facts of his record. The further Mitt Romney runs from his record of raising the gas tax and the further he runs to the right by embracing tax breaks for the big oil and gas companies and eliminating protections against Wall Street speculators manipulating oil prices, the more voters will be reminded of the fact that his policies hurt middle class and working families," Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement.

At 12:30 pm ET, Obama to give rebuttal to Ryan (and Romney by extension)… In yet another reminder the general election is now underway, Obama camp launches its second ad, and it takes a swing at Romney by name… Primary day: Polls close in DC and Maryland at 8:00 pm ET, and they close in Wisconsin at 9:00 pm ET… Obama comments on the SCOTUS oral arguments… And that GSA story: What happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

President Barack Obama gestures during a joint news conference on Monday, April 2, 2012, in the Rose Garden of the White House.

*** Obama’s rebuttal to Ryan (and Romney): When we said yesterday that the general-election train had left the station, we weren’t exaggerating… In remarks he’ll deliver to an Associated Press luncheon at 12:30 pm ET, President Obama will blast the Paul Ryan budget plan that House Republicans passed last week -- and that GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has embraced. In fact, Romney has appeared on the campaign trail with Ryan in recent days. “This congressional Republican budget … is something different altogether. It’s a Trojan Horse,” Obama is expected to say, per excerpts. “Disguised as deficit-reduction plan, it’s really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It’s nothing but thinly-veiled Social Darwinism. It’s antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everyone who’s willing to work for it - a place where prosperity doesn’t trickle down from the top, but grows outward from the heart of the middle class. And by gutting the very things we need to grow an economy that’s built to last - education and training; research and development - it’s a prescription for decline.”

*** We’re not in Kansas anymore: Senior administration officials are billing Obama’s address -- coming on the same day as another round of GOP primaries -- as an important speech, and they say it builds off his remarks in Kansas last December (when he invoked Teddy Roosevelt’s “square deal”) and his State of the Union in January (when he talked about an economy “built to last”). But it also reminds us of the speech he delivered at this same time last year hitting the Ryan plan (as Ryan sat in the audience at George Washington University). “There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires,” Obama said in that April 13, 2011 speech. “There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. And this is not a vision of the America I know.”

*** Team Obama launches their second ad… : More evidence that the general campaign is well underway, the Obama camp released its second major TV ad -- and it hits Romney … by name. “Under President Obama, domestic oil production's at an eight-year high,” the ad goes. “So why is Big Oil attacking him? Because he's fighting to end their tax breaks. He's raising mileage standards, and doubling renewable energy. In all these fights, Mitt Romney's stood with Big Oil- for their tax breaks, attacking higher mileage standards and renewables.” While everyone is focused on the fact the ad refers to Romney, the bigger story here -- at least to us -- is that it’s yet another response to a TV ad campaign by a conservative group with ties to the Koch Brothers. In January, the Obama campaign responded to a $6 million Americans for Prosperity buy. And now, it’s responding to $3 million-plus American Energy Alliance launch. By the way, this Obama ad is airing in six states (CO, FL, IA, NV, OH, and VA), while the American Energy Alliance hit is in eight states. Will we see the pro-Obama Super PAC focus on the other two states (MI, NM)?

*** … and takes a swing at Romney: While this Obama ad is a response to the American Energy Alliance, the message the Obama campaign seems to be sending to GOP outside groups is: If you come after us, we’re going to take a swing at Romney and make him own everything (similar to how Bush ’04 handled the Dem outside groups for Kerry). Indeed, what Team Obama is doing here -- in today’s speech and with this ad -- is attempting to portray Romney as simply a cog of the conservative machine. The implication: If he’s elected, he’ll implement the Ryan budget plan. If he’s elected, the Koch Brothers will help shape his energy policy. They believe this builds on the narrative Romney’s GOP rivals have tried to establish about the former Massachusetts governor: that he’s an empty vessel.  Romney has to fight this image at some point. He needs a BIG idea that he comes up and that the entire party embraces. Right now, Romney is embracing everyone else’s ideas; he can’t afford to simply be “generic Republican nominee” that owns the Republican brand -- which is what Team Obama is trying to do. The Republican brand is not a good one right now.

*** Today’s primaries in DC, Maryland, and Wisconsin: As wrote late last week, today’s GOP primaries -- especially the one in Wisconsin -- represent a last chance for Rick Santorum to change the math and perception in the Republican presidential contest. But they also offer this challenge to Romney: With the political winds (and GOP establishment) at his back, can he score a touchdown? Or does he have to settle for a field goal (as he did in Michigan and Ohio)? By the way, the Wisconsin primary is a test of our demographics-as-destiny theory. In fact, according to the exit polls, Wisconsin seems to fit exactly between Michigan (which Romney narrowly won) and Illinois (which he won by double digits. In Wisconsin in the 2008 GOP primary, 38% were evangelicals (compared with the 43% we saw in Illinois and 42% we saw in Michigan this year); 21% made more than $100,000 (versus 37% in Illinois and 33% in Michigan); and 39% were college grads (versus 51% in Michigan and 49% in Illinois). So if demographics are destiny, Romney should win Wisconsin between five and 10 points.

*** The delegate skinny on today’s primaries: Per NBC’s John Bailey, Wisconsin has 42 total delegates, 39 of which are at stake tonight -- 24 Congressional District delegates (three for each of the state’s eight districts) and 15 At-Large delegates. The 24 CD delegates are winner-take-all per CD vote, so three delegates to the winner of each district. The 15 AL delegates are winner-take-all per statewide vote. The three RNC delegates are technically unbound by the primary results but they traditionally vote for the statewide winner. Maryland, meanwhile, has 37 total delegates -- 24 Congressional District delegates, 10 At-Large delegates, and three RNC delegates. All 37 are bound by the primary results. The 24 Congressional District delegates are winner-take-all within each district, so the highest vote-getter within each district gets that district’s three delegates. The 10 At-Large delegates and three RNC delegates all go to the statewide winner. And Bailey adds that DC has 19 delegates --16 At-Large delegates and three RNC delegates. DC allocates its delegates in a winner-take-all format. The winner of the district-wide vote gets the 16 At-Large delegates, while the three RNC delegates remain unbound. Rick Santorum is not on the ballot in DC, so all 16 are likely to go to Mitt Romney.

*** Poll closings, ad spending, and the current delegate count: Polls close in DC and Maryland at 8:00 pm ET, and they close in Wisconsin at 9:00 pm ET. When it comes to the ad spending in today’s contests, Team Romney outspent Team Santorum nearly 4-to-1 in Wisconsin, $3.1 million to $866,000. And Team Romney has no competition in Maryland or DC, outspending the GOP rivals, $1.4 million to zero. And here’s NBC’s official delegate count: Mitt Romney 490, Rick Santorum 203, Newt Gingrich 137, and Ron Paul 34.

*** On the trail: Gingrich visits DC and later makes a stop in North Carolina…Santorum hosts an election night event in Mars, PA... Paul attends a town hall in Chico, CA…And Romney has lunch in Waukesha and holds his election-night event in Milwaukee. 

*** Obama comments on the SCOTUS oral arguments: Yesterday, President Obama gavae his first response to the Supreme Court oral arguments over the health-care law. "I’m confident that this will be upheld, because it should be upheld," he said, adding: “I’d just remind conservative commentators that for years, what we’ve heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.” While Obama’s comments were a bit surprising – he could have simply brushed aside questions about the case until after the Supreme Court issues its opinion in June – does anyone think it was newsworthy that he believes his law is constitutional and that it should be upheld? The only surprise about the president’s remarks is that he went public with the strategy we reported on last week: that the White House was going to fall back on IF Court ruled against them.

*** What happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas: The head of the General Services Agency resigned her post on Tuesday after reports surfaced that members of the GSA had spent excessive amounts of money on a training conference in Las Vegas, NBC’s Ali Weinberg reported yesterday. The good news for the White House with this GSA news: It managed to make it a one-day story. The bad news: It only reinforces the stereotype that government and its civil-service employees are out of control. And this is why this story is so damaging LONG term for those on the side of “smart” government.

Countdown to Election Day: 217 days

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*** Tuesday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Pro-Romney Former Gov. John Sununu (R-NH) on today’s contests and Romney’s road ahead… NBC’s Peter Alexander with the latest on the ground in Milwaukee… A deep dive into Wisconsin’s delegate distribution… More 2012 news with Politico’s Lois Romano, the Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson and USA Today’s Jackie Kucinich.

*** Tuesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews National Journal’s Major Garrett, the Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee, GOP strategist Juleanna Glover, and ad executive Howard Bragman.

*** Tuesday’s “MSNBC’s Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts talks with Santorum Communications Director Hogan Gidley, Obama Campaign Press Secretary Ben LaBolt, Richard Wolffe, Jen Psaki, Michelle Bernard and Gallup Pollster Frank Newport.

*** Tuesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews Michael Smerconish, Steve Deace, and Erin McPike (on 2012), Talking Points Memo’s Ryan Reilly (on Texas’ voter ID law), and The Grio’s Joy Ann Reid.

This AP headline, channeling yesterday’s First Thoughts, says it all: “Romney and Obama battle ahead of 3 GOP primaries.”

Off the hook: “Wisconsin voters are being deluged with "robocalls" in the GOP presidential race. The largest number appear to be coming from the Romney campaign, though Santo rum and the pro-Santorum Super PAC known as the Red, White and Blue Fund have been making calls,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes. “The calls contain some of the fiercest attacks being made in the primary, mostly targeted to GOP voters. As grating as they can be to some people, automated calls are a popular tool with contemporary campaigns.”

More: “Calls by the Romney campaign have ripped Santorum over earmarks and spending, accused him of being weak against unions, and portrayed him as erratic and inconsistent. Several of the Romney calls have made liberal use of Santorum's own voice. One features Santorum attacking Romney, which might seem odd in a message paid for by Romney. The purpose is to portray Santorum as shrill and over-the-top.”

AP has some facts and figures about DC’s and Maryland’s primaries.

ROMNEY: NBC’s Garrett Haake reports, Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul confirms the Wall Street Journal report that Romney's campaign and the RNC will begin raising money jointly this week. Further, a Romney campaign official confirms that Romney will begin raising his own general-election funds this week as well. "We have, as have all of the campaigns, talked with the Republican National Committee about how to best prepare to take on President Obama, including entering in to Joint Fundraising Committee,” Saul said. “Our donors are ready to mobilize for November and understand that, for the Republican nominee to be able to compete with the $1 billion Obama machine, they need to get started now.  We are confident Gov. Romney will be that nominee.”

The RNC says this should not be interpreted as the committee giving a nod toward Romney, because it offered the opportunity to all of the candidates.

The Baltimore Sun endorses Romney for today’s primary.

In primaries, competitors say some harsh things. The New Republic wraps the harshest that’s been said by Santorum and Gingrich of Mitt Romney – and notes that the quotes could come back to haunt them.

Romney faced a question about his Mormon faith and quickly shot it down.

SANTORUM: Santorum leads Romney by six points in Pennsylvania, 41%-35%, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. Gingrich (7%) is once again behind Ron Paul (10%).

Political Wire: “Key finding: With three weeks before the primary, 6% of likely voters remain undecided and 37% of those who name a candidate say they still could change their mind.”

GOP 12: “A big number, though, that probably bodes well for Mitt? 37% of likely primary voters say they might change their mind, and usually, Restore Our Future changes it for people. Santorum's saving grace might be that he's so well-known in the state that Restore Our Future can't turn him into quite the devil it usually does.”

“President Obama issued an extraordinary warning to the Supreme Court yesterday, saying that if justices vote to strike down ObamaCare they would be thwarting the will of the people,” the New York Post writes. “Speaking in the Rose Garden, Obama predicted the court would uphold the health-care law, saying the court ‘will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.’” And: Appearing alongside Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Obama decried the prospect “that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.”

Romney responded to that on FOX last night, per GOP 12: "Isn't this wonderful to finally have a liberal talking about judicial activism? I think we can come together on this. We've been concerned about judicial activism for years and years and years. What the president's complaining about, however, is that the Supreme Court might actually apply the Constitution to the bill that he passed! And the whole purpose of the Supreme Court is to make sure that Congress does not pass laws that are in violation of the Constitution."

“In an election-year pitch to middle-class voters, President Barack Obama is denouncing a House Republican budget plan as a ‘Trojan horse,’ warning that it represents ‘an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country’ that would hurt the pocketbooks of working families,” AP writes.

Reuters also picks up on it: “President Barack Obama, seizing on Republican plans to slash deficits that the White House sees as a potent vote winner for Democrats in this year's election, slammed his opponents on Tuesday to reinforce his claim that they favor the rich.”

The AP notes that student loan debt is threatening the recovery: “With a still-wobbly jobs market, these loans are increasingly hard to pay off. Unable to find work, many students have returned to school, further driving up their indebtedness. Average student loan debt recently topped $25,000, up 25 percent in 10 years. And the mushrooming debt has direct implications for taxpayers, since 8 in 10 of these loans are government-issued or guaranteed.”

The Republican Governors Association is announcing that it raised $12.2 million in the first quarter of this year – a $5 million increase from its first-quarter haul in ’08. The Democratic Governors Association reported raising $8 million for the quarter. The RGA also says it has $34 million in the bank.

And to make you New York haters’ heads explode there’s this headline from the New York Daily News: “Gov. Cuomo could be on collision course with Clintons in 2016 race for White House,” the writes.

Speaking of 2016 and the New York-metro area, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was in Israel and said this, per the Daily News: “ ‘Anything I do fuels speculation for a future bid,’ Christie told The Associated Press, wearing a yarmulke with his name embroidered on it. ‘I am here because this is a place of enormous significance in the world.’”

MARYLAND: It’s not just the presidential primary that’s happening in Maryland, it’s also the fight for the redistricted MD-6, where incumbent Rep. Roscoe Bartlett is trying to hang on against multiple challengers. Roll Call wraps the drama that’s unfolded.

UTAH: “An internal poll of Utah Republican delegates conducted for Sen. Orrin Hatch’s campaign found the six-term incumbent with enough support to secure the nomination at this month’s state convention,” Roll Call writes.

WISCONSIN: The Wisconsin State Journal finds voters not exactly thrilled about the Democratic hopefuls to replace Gov. Scott Walker (R).

The head of the General Services Agency resigned her post on Tuesday after reports surfaced that members of the GSA had spent excessive amounts of money on a training conference in Las Vegas.

In a written statement, White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew said President Obama was “outraged” when informed -- before his trip to South Korea -- of the $850,000 spent on the conference, detailed in a report by the GSA’s inspector general.

According to the inspector general’s report, first reported on by the Washington Post, the Oct. 2010 event included $147,000 for six planning trips to Las Vegas by a team of organizers, as well as $3,200 for a mind reader and $6,300 on a commemorative coin set.

“When the White House was informed of the Inspector General's findings, we acted quickly to determine who was responsible for such a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars,” Lew said, adding that the president was “outraged by the excessive spending, questionable dealings with contractors, and disregard for taxpayer dollars.”

In her resignation letter, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson said she had launched internal reviews and took disciplinary action after reports surfaced of the “conference in which taxpayer dollar were squandered” but that she still felt she had to resign “so that the agency can move forward at this time with a fresh leadership team.”