Romney eyes Obama’s turf

Republican looks to win big in Illinois

CHICAGO: White House hopeful Mitt Romney is looking for a big win in President Barack Obama’s home state of Illinois to knock his Republican rivals out of the race and focus his energies on the November vote.

A resounding win in Illinois – after capturing 88% of the vote on Sunday in Puerto Rico – would provide powerful momentum for Romney ahead of Louisiana’s primary on Saturday.

“Mitt Romney is headed for a blowout victory in Illinois,” Public Policy Polling said on Monday, releasing a survey that showed Romney with a 15point lead over conservative rival Rick Santorum.

The former Massachusetts governor also has a commanding lead in the all-important delegate count with 1,144 needed to win the party’s nomination.

But as he slogs through a gruelling state-by-state primary race, he has been weakened by his failure to convince the conservative base that he should be the Republican contender to take on Obama.

Written off in the early days, Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, has steadily notched up wins – 10 out of the past 31 contests – largely with the help of evangelicals and the party’s most conservative members.

The Romney campaign is hoping, however, that upcoming contests in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington DC on April 3, as well as a slew of votes in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island later will firm up his position.

Santorum’s campaign has been urging former House speaker Newt Gingrich – who has only won two contests – to drop out of the race in order to consolidate the conservative vote.

Santorum insists that a “true conservative” is needed to rally the party’s base and dismisses fears his positions are too extreme and could turn off moderate Republicans and key independent voters.