Los Angeles - Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney won primary
ballots in Oregon and Nebraska on Tuesday, partial results showed,
moving him a step closer to winning his party's formal White House
nomination.
Romney won 73% of the vote in Oregon against 12.2%
for Ron Paul, who suspended active campaigning this week, and 5.7% for
Newt Gingrich, according to results from nearly two thirds of precincts.
In
Nebraska the former Massachusetts governor had at least 70.9% of votes
compared to 9.9% for Paul and 5.2% for former House Speaker Gingrich,
according to nearly complete results.
Even if he won all of
Oregon's 25 delegates and Nebraska's 32 - from a non-binding poll - he
would not be able to reach the 1 144 needed to clinch the Republican
nomination.
Before Tuesday's two latest primaries - which have
become mostly academic since the other main candidates dropped out of
the race - Romney had 963 delegates, 181 short of the winning tally, CBS
reported.
Romney has turned his fire onto President Barack
Obama, his rival for the White House in November elections, since his
main rival conservative Catholic Rick Santorum withdrew from the race in
April.
Earlier on Tuesday Romney won the backing - albeit in
unorthodox fashion - of former president George W Bush to be White House
nominee, to be chosen by Republicans at their August convention in
Tampa, Florida.
"I'm for Mitt Romney," Bush said, as elevator
doors were closing on him, according to an ABC television blog report.
Bush is not due to campaign for Romney, ABC said.
- AFP