West Virginia Could Help Romney Reach Goal - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

West Virginia Could Help Romney Reach Goal

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -

Republican party leaders are starting to rally around Mitt Romney, but there's no stampede of support for the expected GOP presidential nominee.
    
With Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich out of the race, Romney will win the nomination to take on President Barack Obama. But he still has to round up enough convention delegates to make it official.
    
Romney has 867 delegates, according to The Associated Press. That's 277 short of the 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination.
    
He could gain about 100 delegates from Tuesday's primaries in North Carolina, Indiana and West Virginia by dominating voting in all three states.
    
But unless more Santorum and Gingrich delegates switch to him, Romney might have to wait until the May 29 primary in delegate-rich Texas to clinch the nomination.