Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at the RNC State Chairman's National Meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., Friday, April 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney has won the Republican presidential primaries in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
They are the first in a string of five state primaries being held Tuesday. The others are in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The five primaries are the first since Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign two weeks ago - essentially conceding the GOP nomination to Romney.
Romney is still more than 400 GOP national convention delegates shy of the nominating majority he needs.
There are 209 delegates at stake in Tuesday's primaries. Romney started the day with 698 delegates, compared with 260 for Santorum, 137 for Newt Gingrich and 75 for Ron Paul.
Romney needs 1,144 to formally gain the nomination this summer at the party's convention.