Lenexa, Kan. – Despite calls from his Super PAC's top contributor for Newt Gingrich to drop out of the presidential race, Rick Santorum insists that he isn't pushing for the former Speaker's exit.

"People should stay in the race as long as they feel they should stay in the race," Santorum said. "And you know, I'm going to stay in the race because we're doing really well."

Speaking to reporters after a campaign event outside Kansas City, Santorum quipped that he would relish the departure of either Mitt Romney or Gingrich – who won only his home state of Georgia in last night's primaries.

"I'm not saying I don't want (Gingrich) to get out," he said. "If he wants to get out, I'm all for him getting out. I'm all for Mitt Romney getting out, I'm for everybody getting out, I wish President Obama would just hand me the thing, but that's not going to happen."

The former Pennsylvania senator added that if members of his staff have telegraphed a direct call for Gingrich to drop out, "it's certainly not coming from me and I don't support it."

Despite his limited primary victories, Gingrich has cut into Santorum's conservative support, preventing him from key wins over Romney in close-fought states like Ohio and Michigan.

During remarks to about 150 supporters, Santorum conceded that Romney's Super Tuesday performance gave the former Massachusetts governor a boost. 

"We had a good night last night, but so did Gov. Romney. That's why we have to start anew," Santorum said, adding that he must win the Kansas caucuses on Saturday.

A Romney adviser told reporters earlier Wednesday that it would take "an act of God" for Romney to lose the GOP nomination at this point.

That's a challenge Santorum wouldn't mind taking.

"If the governor thinks he's now ordained by God to win, then let's just have it out," Santorum said.

STEUBENVILLE, OH -- Rick Santorum's campaign is calling on conservatives to pressure Newt Gingrich to abandon his bid for the White House, a senior adviser told reporters tonight.

Senior campaign strategist John Brabender said the key for the campaign going forward will be creating an opportunity to challenge Mitt Romney one-on-one, though Brabender maintained the Santorum campaign would not directly call on Gingrich to drop out of the race.

Slideshow: Voters head to polls on Super Tuesday

Mark Humphrey / AP

See pictures from around America as 11 states hold contests that will award a combined 424 delegates in the Republican primary.

Launch slideshow

"We're never going to call on anybody to get out, but what we are calling is on Tea Party supporters and conservatives is to rally behind the only candidate that has demonstrated over and over again that he's the one who can compete against Mitt Romney," Brabender said.

"The real key right now is, can we get an opportunity to get a one-on-one shot with Mitt Romney," he said. "What we found is, Gingrich did a nice job in his home state, but I don't even think he had a second place anywhere else ... It's time for conservatives to say 'Look, we're going to rally behind one candidate, Rick Santorum."

Speaking to reporters in the high school gym where Santorum spoke just moments earlier, Brabender declared that no matter what the final result in Ohio, it already has been a bad night for Mitt Romney's campaign.

"All I know is after spending nearly $10 million here in Ohio, right now its neck and neck and it's going to be close to a tie, and somebody will win, but not by much.  I don't know how they declare that anything but a disappointment," he said.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – As many voters across the country were casting votes in Super Tuesday States, Newt Gingrich was talking about space exploration in Rocket City, U.S.A.

“What we're in today is a launching pad -- this isn't the end state for the space program, this is the launching pad for the next phase of excitement and invention,” Gingrich told the several hundred people gathered at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center -- home of Space Camp.

The former House speaker, who is hoping to win big in Georgia Tuesday night and start to relaunch his presidential campaign, defended his dreams for America’s space program despite criticisms from his GOP rivals.

“I want to restate -- far from backing off -- I want to restate: America has a destiny in space,” Gingrich said. “It is a part of who we are. We are not going to back off from John Kennedy’s challenge and we are not going to go timidly into the night allowing the Chinese to dominate the future of space.”

While campaigning on Florida’s Space Coast late in January, Gingrich called for a creation of a colony on the moon by 2020. His comments resulted in some mockery by late night comedians and questions by people in his own party but the former speaker still choose to gave another speech on space the day 11 states cast votes in this tight Republican primary.

Gingrich spokesman, R.C. Hammond, told reporters he has one thing to say to all the “naysayers.”

“The same folks who mock Newt Gingrich for having vision in science, are the same people who don't want to cure cancer, the same people who are content to live with Alzheimer's, the same people who don't want to fix our public school systems, are the same people who look at a problem and say, 'Well, I can live with that, lets not worry about fixing that.' They're the same critics that created the tea party by turning the Republican Party away from it's actual values,” he said.

Hartselle, Alabama resident Mary Hatfield told NBC News she is leaning toward voting for Gingrich in the primary next week because of his “wealth of experience,” noting she is glad the speaker came to talk about space today.

“I think it should be a part of the discussion,” she said. “There are other things more crucial to our country right now, yes, but I think we have to be part of space exploration because someone is going to do it if we don’t.”

ATLANTA, GA -- Neither Newt Gingrich nor his wife, Callista, will cast votes Tuesday in their home state's Republican presidential primary.

NBC News has learned that the Gingriches have opted against voting in Virginia, one of the 11 states hosting primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday.

“Newt and Callista are not casting a ballot in Virginia and they did not request an absentee one,” Gingrich campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond told NBC News.

Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are on the state’s ballot as the former House speaker failed to obtain enough required valid signatures for his name to appear on the Virginia ballot. Rick Santorum will also not appear on the ballot.

“In this Republican primary, when given a choice between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, they could not pick either one,” Hammond said.
 
That creates the situation where Gingrich is favored to win the Super Tuesday contest taking place in his old home state -- Georgia -- but won't be voting in the Super Tuesday state where he currently lives and is registered to vote -- Virginia.
 
Still, if Gingrich fails to capture the Republican nomination, he would vote in the general election in Virginia, which is regarded as a toss-up state in November.

According to Hammond, the Gingriches would back whichever Republican gets through the primary season “because no one is worse than Barack Obama.”

The couple's decision to sit out the primary isn't just a pointed gesture toward Romney and Paul. Their vote would also conceivably remind voters of the fact that Gingrich makes his home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., and has for quite some time. Gingrich has spent the better part of the past week focusing on winning a primary on Tuesday in Georgia, the state he represented in Congress for two decades.

Romney will return to Massachusetts, the state where he served as governor, to vote Tuesday in the Bay State's primary. His election night party is also in Boston.

Ironically, Romney is the favorite to win Virginia. He outpaced Paul by a wide margin in Sunday's NBC News/Marist poll.

Gingrich, along with Santorum and former presidential candidates Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Jon Huntsman filed a lawsuit against the state of Virginia months ago to include all candidates' names on the ballot. The effort, led by Gov. Perry, was unsuccessful. The legislature also never added any type of write-in capabilities to the ballot, forcing Virginians to choose only between the candidates whose names appear on the ballot.

The speaker said over the weekend as he campaigned in Ohio, he “had some problems in Virginia” but also noted his main focus on Super Tuesday has always been the state he represented in Congress for more than 20 years.

“I said all along that Georgia was the key because if we didn’t do well in Georgia I thought we could not go on,” Gingrich said Saturday in Bowling Green, OH.

But Virginia is a battleground state come November and failing to get on the ballot in such a crucial state for the general election could raise questions about the Gingrich campaign’s organization and ability to run nationwide. Obama won Virginia in 2008 but Republicans have said they hope to be successful there in 2012.

Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Making his final pitch to Ohio voters Monday, Rick Santorum called on supporters to vote for a candidate of honor – all the while calling Mitt Romney dishonest for defending the health care legislation he signed as governor of Massachusetts.

"We now find multiple videos and op-eds where (Romney) advocated for... a government-mandated health insurance benefit, something he's been denying throughout the course of this campaign," Santorum told a packed crowd in Westerville, OH. "It's one thing to be for it, it’s another to not tell the truth to the people of this country."

The remarks came shortly after Santorum held a conference call with reporters in which he argued Mitt Romney’s record would undermine his ability to challenge President Barack Obama about health care during the general election.

Romney says the Massachusetts health care law was right for Massachusetts but that he would not have advocated for it as a model for the country. Still, the Santorum campaign continues to point reporters to clips of Romney television appearances as proof that the former governor believed the legislation could work beyond the state borders.

"Now we know that Gov. Romney, for the course of this campaign has told the people of this country something that wasn't true,” Santorum said. “Now it's one thing … to have bad policy. It's another thing to mislead the American public."

Demonstrating its organizational strength, the Romney campaign responded to the Santorum conference call even before it started.

Spokeswoman Andrea Saul blasted out a response: "Over the last several years, Governor Romney has said many times, in many different formats, that his health care reform plan was the right model for Massachusetts, and that it should not be used as a one-size-fits-all national health insurance plan. Governor Romney is a federalist and has always said that states should be free to come up with their own health care reforms.”

Recent polls show the two neck-and-neck in the Buckeye State heading into Super Tuesday.

TULSA, Okla -- Status update: Yup, Herman Cain is still singing.

The grinning former presidential candidate on Monday treated Newt Gingrich supporters at a Tulsa pizza parlor to a booming rendition of "America the Beautiful" before launching into his case for the former speaker of the House.

"Even though I am no longer pursuing the position of president, I am still on a mission and that mission is to make sure that we get the right person in the White House and that person is former Speaker Newt Gingrich in order to help save America," he told the crowd of about 100. "That's why I am doing what I'm doing."

(Although the rally was held at a downtown Tulsa pizza joint, the onetime pie purveyor did not sample any of the goods.)

Heading into the Oklahoma primary, Cain joined former home state congressman J.C. Watts and Gingrich's daughter Jackie to promote the candidate's $2.50 gas plan. Watts predicted a primary struggle at least into May and said that Gingrich will continue to accumulate delegates after Super Tuesday.

"We think we're still in the hunt, and the voters are going to be good to us not just tomorrow but as we continue on," Watts said. 

Cain, himself a longtime radio host, spoke briefly to NBC News after the event about the exodus of at least eight advertisers from Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

"They would have to make that call," Cain said. "I just know that advertisers make their decisions about who they want to support and not support, but I don't think it's going to hurt the Rush Limbaugh show."

Asked if Limbaugh's comments about Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, who has lobbied the Catholic university to cover birth control under its student insurance plans, had hurt the GOP, Cain offered a flat "no."

"No, I don't think they hurt the party because Rush Limbaugh is not running for anything, so I don't think they hurt the party at all," he said.

CANTON, OH -- Mitt Romney opened his final day of campaigning in Ohio with a focus on the economy, a simple, disciplined message his campaign hopes will propel him to victory in this key Super Tuesday state.

"If you think this campaign against President Obama is going to be about the economy, and jobs, and government being too big, then I’m the guy you need to nominate. That's what I know. That's what I've done," Romney said this morning in remarks described by a campaign aide as his "closing arugment."

Romney has sought throughout the campaign to focus on the economy and his record as governor, and in the private sector. But the GOP primary battle has found itself stuck more on social issues over the past month -- issues that helped boost former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum enough to mount a credible challenge to Romney.

Romney has closed his deficit against Santorum in Ohio to a gap within the margin of error, according to the latest round of polling in the state. A top Romney adviser credited the candidate's economic focus and robust ground game for the campaign's momentum in the Buckeye State.

"[Romney] has been surging this week just because he’s boots on the ground, spreading his pro-jobs message," Senior Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told reporters before the first of three campaign stops today. "He’s not like other candidates who get distracted by non-economic issues. He stays focused on the economy and I think that more than anything else explains why he’s surging.”

True to form, Romney used a lesson learned in his private equity career as a rhetorical weapon against President Obama this morning.

"We used to have, we used to joke, three rules for turning around an enterprise in trouble, and the rules were these: focus, focus and focus," Romney explained.

"When our president came into office there was one key job in front of him; and that was to get this economy going and put people back to work. But instead of focusing his energy on that topic, he instead went off on a whole series of other things he wanted to do," Romney said. "He focused on a whole series of things other than the job at hand. And one of the reasons we're having such difficulty coming out of the downturn we're in is because the president has failed to focus on what was most important to America, which is getting good jobs again."

Romney also turned his economic-focused message against his Republican rivals, although not by name.

"Other people in this race have debated about the economy, they've read about the economy, they've talked about it in subcommittee meetings, but I've actually been in it," Romney said. "I've worked in business. I understand what it takes to get a business successful and to thrive. I understand how it is that government gets in the way."

As the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Romney once again regaining the lead nationally for the Republican nomination, with 38 percent of respondents backing the former Massachusetts governor. Fehrnstrom also suggested that regardless of the results of Tuesday's contests, the party appears to be coalescing around Romney.

"You saw yesterday Eric Cantor endorsed, followed by Senator Coburn in Oklahoma. This morning former Missouri Governor and Attorney General John Ashcroft endorsed," Fehrnstrom said. "So the party has already begun to coalesce behind Mitt Romney and we expect that we will pick up more endorsements after Tuesday."

That rallying around Romney, if it's happening, can't come soon enough. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll also showed Romney's favorabilty rating dropping to 28 percent from 31 percent in January, with Republican pollster Bill McInturff describing the effect of the elongated primary as "corrosive" to the Republican brand.

As another round of voting takes place this week in the Republican presidential race – with 11 states holding Super Tuesday contests – a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that the combative and heavily scrutinized primary season so far has damaged the party and its candidates.

Four in 10 of all adults say the GOP nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the Republican Party, versus just slightly more than one in 10 with a more favorable opinion.

Additionally, when asked to describe the GOP nominating battle in a word or phrase, nearly 70 percent of respondents – including six in 10 independents and even more than half of Republicans – answered with a negative comment.

Some examples of these negative comments from Republicans: "Unenthusiastic," "discouraged," "lesser of two evils," "painful," "disappointed," "poor choices," "concerned," "underwhelmed,” “uninspiring” and “depressed.”

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

And perhaps most significantly, the GOP primary process has taken a toll on the Republican presidential candidates, including front-runner Mitt Romney, who is seen more unfavorably and whose standing with independents remains underwater.

“The primaries have not raised the stature of the party, nor enhanced the appeal of the candidates,” says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.

“The word you’d have to use at this stage is: ‘Corrosive,’” McInturff adds.

The damage from the Republican primary season – in addition to a rising job-approval rating for President Obama and more optimism about the U.S. economy – has given Democrats an early advantage for November’s general election.

Indeed, the president’s job-approval rating now stands at 50 percent; Obama leads Romney in a hypothetical general-election match up by six points; and Democrats hold a five-point edge on the generic congressional ballot.

If this poll’s outlook on the 2012 race were a cocktail, Hart says, it would be “one part Obama, one part the economy, and three parts the Republican Party’s destruction.”

Bad news and good news for Romney
How damaging has the primary season – with all of its debates, attack ads and scrutiny -- been for the Republican Party?

Forty percent of all adults say the GOP contest so far has made them feel less favorable about the party, while 12 percent say they now have a more favorable impression. Forty-seven percent say it’s had no impact.

Even among Republicans, 23 percent maintain the primary season has given them a less favorable opinion of the party, versus 16 percent who say it’s been positive.

In addition, 55 percent of respondents – including 35 percent of Republicans – believe the Democratic Party does a better job than the GOP in appealing to those who aren’t hard-core supporters. Just 26 percent say the Republican Party does a better job on this front.

And it’s been damaging for Romney, too. In January’s NBC/WSJ poll, Romney’s favorable/unfavorable rating stood at 31 percent to 36 percent among all respondents (and 22/42 percent among independents).

But in this latest survey, it’s now 28 percent favorable and 39 percent unfavorable (and 22/38 percent among independents).

In fact, Romney’s image right now is worse than almost all other recent candidates who went on to win their party’s presidential nomination: Obama’s favorable/unfavorable ratio was 51/28 percent and John McCain’s was 47/27, in the March 2008 NBC/WSJ poll; John Kerry was at 42/30 at this point in 2004; George W. Bush was 43/32 in 2000; and Bob Dole was 35/39 in March 1996.

The one exception: Bill Clinton, in April 1992, was at 32/43 percent.

But there is also some good news for Romney in the poll, especially as it relates to his bid to capture the GOP presidential nomination.

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

After his primary victories last Tuesday in Arizona and Michigan, the former Massachusetts governor leads the national Republican horserace, getting support from 38 percent of GOP voters, his highest-ever mark in the poll.

He’s followed by former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum at 32 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul tied at 13 percent.

In a race reduced to just two candidates, Romney leads Santorum by five percentage points, 50 to 45 percent.

In particular, Romney has improved his standing with Tea Party supporters, getting support from 44 percent of them in a two-way contest against Santorum.

And what’s more, 72 percent of Republicans say they would be satisfied if Romney becomes their party’s presidential nominee.

Obama’s improved political standing
When it comes to President Obama, the poll contains mostly good news. Fifty percent approve of his job – his highest mark in the NBC/WSJ survey since Osama bin Laden’s death – and 45 percent disapprove.

In a hypothetical general-election contest, he leads Romney by six points, 50 to 44 percent, winning independents (46-39 percent), women (55-37 percent) and those in the Midwest (52-42 percent).

Obama enjoys bigger leads over Paul (50 to 42 percent), Santorum (53 to 39 percent) and Gingrich (54 to 37 percent).

Bolstering Obama’s standing is increased optimism about the state of the U.S. economy.

Read the full poll here (.pdf)

Forty percent believe the economy will improve during the next year, a three-point increase from January. And looking back at the economic recession, 57 percent say that the worst is behind us, while 36 percent say the worst is still to come.

Back in November, only 49 percent said the worst was behind us.

“President Obama is probably in the best political shape he’s been in since his initial year as president,” says Hart, the Democratic pollster.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted from Feb. 29 through March 3 of 800 adults (including 200 by cellphone), and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.5 percentage points. The poll also contains an oversample of 185 interviews to achieve a total of 400 GOP primary voters, and that margin of error is plus-minus 4.9 percentage points.

KNOXVILLE, TN-- Mitt Romney took a daylong break from a marathon Ohio campaign swing to make two appearances in southern states his own campaign advisers admit he's unlikely to win, for one simple reason: He's hunting Super Tuesday delegates.

Romney made quick stops in an Atlanta suburb and in Knoxville, Tennessee today -- strategically selected locations in states Romney advisers say he is unlikely to carry, but where the campaign sees delegate pickup opportunities.

"I don't know if we have any realistic expectation of beating Newt Gingrich in his home state," Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told reporters traveling with the candidate today. "But we look to taking some delegates out. Same thing in Tennessee."

In Georgia, Romney's team has targeted downtown and suburban Atlanta districts, where Romney performed well four years ago, with one senior adviser comparing the demographics of suburban Atlanta to those of Oakland County -- Romney's home county in Michigan -- which he won with fully fifty percent of the vote last week.

Today in Snellville, east of Atlanta, Romney drew an overflow crowd for a pancake brunch that morphed into a town hall. He told voters in the overflow room he felt good about his fifth-straight victory in Washington state Saturday, and later gamely passed out breakfast to voters -- never serving up more than subtle criticism of his republican rivals, and focusing his ire on President Obama.

In Tennessee, Romney has relied on deep bench of establishment support, including a clutch of congressmen, Senator Lamar Alexander and Governor Bill Haslem, to buoy his campaign's efforts. Former Senator Rick Santorum, now widely considered to be Romney's chief rival for the nomination also failed to get on the ballot in some Tennessee districts, further opening the door for Romney to slip away with southern delegates.

Today's campaign event in Knoxville was his first public event in the state this cycle. Introduced by Haslem, Romney was in a confident mood, congratulating the state's famous basketball team, the Lady Vols, and reminiscing about the Davy Crockett theme song from his boyhood.

Romney's confidence pervaded campaign staff, with Fehrnstrom describing the candidate as "thrilled" by the Washington state victory, and brandishing statistics about the New Hampshire and Florida contests to fend off the narrative.

"If you look at New Hampshire, Mitt Romney won by a bigger percentage than Ronald Reagan, and I don’t remember anybody saying Ronald Reagan had a problem connecting with people," Fehrnstrom said. "You look at Florida; Mitt Romney got more votes than any Republican ever in a presidential primary."

But even as the campaign works to highlight the importance of winning delegates, Fehrnstrom told reporters that in the end, the way to silence Romney's critics who say he cannot connect would be simple: win.

"We’re just going to keep focusing on racking up wins, and I think that answers the question," Fehrnstrom said.

SPOKANE, WA -- Rick Santorum urged Washington caucus goers to support his campaign against "the good ol' boys," a reference to the Republican establishment that the presidential hopeful argued is afraid to nominate a conservative to take on President Obama.

"The best chance for us to win is to not to go along with the good o'l boys who always want to nominate a moderate. The best chance for us to win is to create clear, sharp contrasts," Santorum said at a rally in front of more than 400 people. "Give America a choice."

While Santorum frequently calls himself the only true conservative vying for the Republican presidential nomination, in Washington on Thursday he placed a newfound emphasis on his battle against his the money and organization of his GOP rivals.  His stop here came just hours after the Michigan Republican Party voted to strip Santorum a delegate in the Wolverine State primary.  Instead of tying Romney in delegates, the Santorum campaign found itself at a 16 to 14 disadvantage.

"I just think that you really see what the Romney campaign's all about.  Anything to win, after the fact, break the rules, rewrite the rules," Santorum told NBC News after the rally.  "That’s not the way Republicans and conservatives do it.  But, he's new to the conservative cause, so I'm not surprised he doesn't know that."

A win in the Michigan primary would have been a major setback to the former Massachusetts governor's path to the nomination.  Despite losing the popular vote, the Santorum campaign on Wednesday could still claim they split the delegate count in Romney's home state.
They lost that argument today.

"This is an insurgent campaign.  We are running, we are getting outspent everywhere, 5, 6, 7 to 1.  All the big money guys, spending huge amounts of money.  And any time you punch back, oh, they get all upset, said Santorum.  "'Oh, he's unfair, he called eligible voters and asked them to vote in Michigan.'  Wow, as he's out there telling lie, after lie after lie in Super Pac doing things, I went out and actually asked eligible voters to vote and thats unfair.  Folks, this is the establishment, they don’t like getting into the fight, they just like having the money advantage and having their way."

Washington will hold its caucus on Saturday, and the Santorum campaign sees it as an opportunity to grab headlines and show moment ahead of the 11 states going to the polls in the all-important Super Tuesday contests on March 6.

“You folks have an opportunity to reset this race on Saturday before Super Tuesday,” he said. “You folks have an opportunity to reset this race on Saturday before Super Tuesday."

Gerald Herbert / AP

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign rally at American Posts in Toledo, Ohio, Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

TOLEDO, Ohio – Ten states hold their nominating contests in the Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, none more important than the contested race in Ohio, a state key in any general election candidate’s path to the White House.

The state’s Republican primary is poised to become the crown jewel of Super Tuesday, a state in which Mitt Romney could avoid the kind of backslide he suffered after previous wins in the primary cycle or where another candidate could find a new boost of energy and momentum.

For Rick Santorum, the former senator from neighboring Pennsylvania, Ohio presents an opportunity to challenge Romney on similar terrain as Michigan – where he almost upset Romney on Tuesday evening – but without the built-in advantages for the former Massachusetts governor.

Santorum must begin to string together some big wins in major states, said Randall Fought, a Perrysburg bricklayer, of Santorum at his campaign event on Tuesday in northwest Ohio. “He’s got to pick up some decisive places, especially here in the Midwest.”

But Romney is riding high after staving off Santorum in Michigan, while also scoring a decisive win in Arizona.

“If Santorum would have won Michigan, I would’ve been tilted in that direction … He was weak in the debate, and I think that affected him in the result,” said Michael Kuhar of Point Place, Ohio following a Romney event in Toledo. 

“I think [Romney] has more momentum. I think he attracts and will continue to attract anybody that could’ve been on the fence, like myself,” added Kuhar, who said he was undecided before Romney’s win in Michigan.

Of the 10 states hosting primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, few are as competitive as Ohio, a battleground state that will be important to the general election in November.

Santorum held an advantage over Romney in the state ahead of the voting this week in Michigan and Arizona, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday that found Santorum leading Romney, 36 percent to 29 percent with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 17 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 11 percent.

But Santorum faces an initial handicap in the race, too. While he’ll appear on the ballot statewide – giving him the chance to beat Romney – he’ll be ineligible to win delegates in the three congressional districts where he did not file delegate slates. He’ll lose out on the opportunity to win as many as nine delegates.

First Read: How ugly was Romney's win?

“What people are beginning to understand is the conventional wisdom about Romney – that he would be the best candidate in the fall – is not true,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a former senator who served with Santorum in Congress and had initially backed Romney for the nomination.

To that end, Santorum is set to rely on a similar formula that almost won him Michigan, looking to relate with working class voters and very conservative voters who feel uncomfortable or disconnected from Romney.

“I think he should play very well here,” said Peggy Moody of Steubenville, Ohio, who’s been unemployed for a year and a half since losing her job as a pharmaceutical sales representative. “I feel that Rick Santorum is much more genuine and he relates better to the people.”

But some Ohio voters also take umbrage at the suggestion that Romney can’t relate to voters in the state as well as Santorum.

“I look at it the same way,” said Brook Welker, who owns a small business that places outdoor signage throughout northwest Ohio, in reference to Romney’s well-publicized private sector career. “I acquire signs in disrepair – I acquire assets for my business, fix them up, and cut losses. It’s the same thing [with Romney] on a larger scale. I can identify.” 

Both Romney's and Santorum’s abilities to connect with voters will be an important test not just in Ohio, but in the nine other states hosting contests.

Moreover, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are each battling to rejuvenate their own candidacies by focusing on very specific caucuses and primaries. Victories by either candidate could infuse their campaigns with new momentum, or, at the very least, contribute to the growing possibility that the race for the GOP nomination will become a drawn-out battle for delegates.

“Every primary is important as you start to build your delegate count. Our goal is to help Gov. Romney achieve the goal,” said Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus, a Republican who’s supporting Romney. “I certainly would hope that it would come to an end soon. But I think the reality is that we have a number of candidates who have said they’ll continue contesting contests through the early summer.”

The 10 states hosting primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday are Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. A total of 437 delegates are at stake, although some states apportion them differently. In the case of Virginia, only Romney and Paul qualified for the ballot.

Romney has campaigned this week in Ohio, Idaho and North Dakota, and has dispatched surrogates to some of the other states. Gingrich has, meanwhile, fought most aggressively in his native Georgia and neighboring Tennessee. Santorum has planned stops in Tennessee and has done media in Oklahoma. Paul has also spread the map, but has made a particular point of challenging Romney head-to-head in Virginia.

Ten states have held their primaries already, with over 300 delegates up for grabs. That’s the same number of states that hold contests on Super Tuesday, except more delegates will be at stake on a single day than in two months’ worth of voting. An additional 11th state, Wyoming, is apportioning its delegates on Super Tuesday, too. The state of Washington additionally hosts caucuses this weekend.