Romney Calls Obama 'Hide and Seek' Candidate

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- One day after sweeping three primaries, Mitt Romney said he hopes the Republican nomination will be “wrapped up as soon as possible,” but stopped short of calling for his opponents to drop out.

Rather, he focused his criticism squarely on President Obama, previewing the likely general election matchup and framing the president as the “hide and seek” candidate.

“He wants us to re-elect him so we can find out what he will actually do,” Romney said Wednesday in Washington, D.C. “With all the challenges the nation faces, this is not the time for President Obama's hide and seek campaign.”

Romney spoke from the same stage that President Obama spoke at on Tuesday. In front of the Newspaper Association of America, Romney said the president’s speech included multiple “distortions” and ”rhetorical excesses.”

Romney defended Congressman Paul Ryan, whose budget plan President Obama dismissed Tuesday as “nothing more than a Trojan Horse.”

“Congressman Paul Ryan – who, unlike this president, has had the courage to offer serious solutions to the problems we face,” Romney said Wednesday.

“President Obama came here yesterday and railed against arguments no one is making – and criticized policies no one is proposing,” Romney continued, “It’s one of his favorite strategies – setting up straw men to distract from his record.”

Romney said that President Obama will have a “hard time defending” his record in office in a general election.

“I don’t think this has been a great presidency,” Romney said. “As you look at the pieces of legislation he enacted, they did not get the economy working again.”

Romney said on the economy the president has presented a “grand total of zero” ideas and will try a series of “election-year conversions,” to win another term in office.

Following the lead of others like Sen. John McCain, R-AZ., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL., who have called on the others in the Republican nomination to drop out, Romney was asked if he would now call on his Republican opponents to drop out as well.

“No, I haven’t, but now that you bring it up,” Romney joked to laughter in the room.

Then, he shifted towards more diplomatic language when speaking about his competitors for the Republican nomination, but emphasized that his hope would be to have this nomination race wrapped up soon.

“Actually, I think people are free to make their own decision and I respect them to do so,” Romney said. “I hope we are able to resolve our nomination process as soon as possible. Of course because I’d like to focus our time and attention on those key battleground states.”

Romney will spend the rest of the day Wednesday and Thursday in Pennsylvania, looking ahead to the next set of primaries on the April 24.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Ryan Defends Romney On Immigration Record

Michael Bonfigli /The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images(MILWAUKEE) -- With Mitt Romney looking like more of a lock than ever to win the Republican presidential nomination after a hat-trick of victories Tuesday, the focus now turns to his chances in a general election showdown against President Obama, one where the Latino vote could swing the fate of the White House.

In recent weeks, Romney has come under criticism from Democrats who accuse the GOP frontrunner of being “the most extreme presidential nominee of our time” on the issue of immigration. But nothing could be further from the truth, according to one of Romney’s top supporters – and possible future running mate – Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Ryan endorsed Romney last Friday, spent the following four days campaigning with him in the Badger State, and defended his immigration record in an interview Tuesday night.

“I think it’s something he should talk about, how he plans to reform the immigration system,” Ryan said. “I would say that the president had his whole entire party running Congress for two years and he chose not to do anything about this problem. The immigration system is broken for everybody involved in it. It needs to be fixed and we are the party of opportunity. We do believe in legal immigration. Most of us are a product of it. We’re a product of immigration success stories. And I think he’ll speak to that.”

“I think he will be inclusive and welcoming to Latinos, to immigrants,” he continued. “I think that based on my representation of Latinos – I do bilingual town-hall meetings every year – what I get from the immigrant community is that they want legal immigration cleaned up. They want illegal immigration stopped.”

“They appreciate assimilation so their kids can have a chance at the American dream. They want us to fix this broken system. I think he’ll speak to that and I think he’ll show a positive agenda that Hispanics will be more than happy to be a part of it.”

Ryan and Romney even went on the offensive on immigration at a town-hall event Monday in Milwaukee, denouncing Obama’s failures to enact sweeping immigration reform despite promising to do so during the 2008 campaign.

“This has always been a priority for the president he chooses to do nothing about,” argued Romney. “Let the immigrant community not forget that while he uses this as a political weapon, he has not taken responsibility for fixing the problems we have.”

That charge did not sit well with Democrats, who countered in a flurry of responses by claiming that the former Massachusetts governor was “trying to distract voters from his extreme positions by misrepresenting President Obama’s record.”

“Mitt Romney has promised to veto the DREAM Act, encouraged all undocumented immigrants to self-deport, opposes comprehensive immigration reform and called the extreme Arizona immigration law a ‘model,’” said Juan Sepulveda, the Democratic National Committee’s senior adviser for Hispanic Affairs. “Mitt Romney may try to Etch-a-Sketch his extreme positions on immigration, but he can’t shake off the extreme policies he has adopted – anti-immigrant policies that Latino voters won’t soon forget.”

One of Ryan’s colleagues in the House – Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, a Democrat from Texas – pointed out that “if Gov. Romney hadn’t spent the last six years campaigning for president, he might have noticed that it was members of his own party that defeated the DREAM Act and thwarted passage of comprehensive immigration reform.”

In addition, top Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod took to Twitter to push back, saying, “Just when u think he can’t amaze, Mitt attacks POTUS for not passing the immigration reform the entire GOP opposed!”

Ryan’s comments on Romney’s chances with Latinos this fall were part of a wide-ranging interview on the night of the Wisconsin primary. In the interview, Ryan fought back against Obama’s attacks on his budget, arguing that the president was becoming “more partisan and desperate by the day.”

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After Tough Night, Santorum Campaign Preps for Pennsylvania

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- A top adviser for Rick Santorum said Wednesday morning that after Mitt Romney’s three-primary sweep Tuesday night, the Santorum campaign is “girding our loins” for the April 24 Pennsylvania primary.

Despite growing calls for Santorum to exit the race, the adviser said the former Pennsylvania senator huddled with his senior staff in Mars, Pa. Tuesday night where he held his election night event, and began to plot a three-week course for a win in the state he represented in Congress from 1991 to 2007.

Santorum starts with a three-city tour of Pennsylvania on Wednesday, but will have no public events over the Easter weekend. However, staff said that does not mean he’s taking the days “off.” He intends to use the time to sketch out his strategy for keeping Romney at bay in a state where one recent poll, taken before last night’s primaries, shows Santorum holding on to a six percentage point lead over the former Massachusetts governor.

The adviser said part of the strategy will be to make the weeks between now and the April 24 primary a family affair. Santorum’s wife, Karen, and the couple’s oldest daughter Elizabeth, who turns 21 on Monday, plan to launch their own barnstorming tour of the state starting next week.

Though Romney did not mention any of his opponents in his victory speech in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, Santorum placed a call to Romney to congratulate him on wins in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Santorum’s team is anticipating an onslaught from the Romney campaign in Pennsylvania — television ads, robo-calls, and a heavy campaign schedule. But they insist that dropping out before the Keystone State primary is not an option.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Romney Wins Three More Primaries: Is the Race Finally Over?

Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesANALYSIS
By Amy Walter, ABC NEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR

(WASHINGTON) -- It is done.  The GOP primary is over.

Yes, Rick Santorum can keep bowling for votes.  He can call Tuesday night “halftime” as he did in a speech in Mars, Pa., and vow to plow on ahead.  Heck, he can even win the Pennsylvania primary on April 24.  But, it won’t matter.

Mitt Romney didn’t simply get more votes than Santorum did in the “must-win” state of Wisconsin, he won over the kinds of voters who have been skeptical of his candidacy for much of this primary season: very conservative Republicans, middle income earners, strong Tea Party supporters and non-college graduates.

To be sure, Romney didn’t exactly carry these groups by a wide margin -- he won those making less than $100,00 per year by just one point and very conservatives by just three points.

But, it’s a dramatic turn-around from where Romney stood with these voters back on Super Tuesday on March 6.

On that March day in Ohio, a state with a similar demographic make-up to Wisconsin, Romney lost very conservative voters by a whopping 18 points.  He lost those who made less than $100,000 per year by 8 points.

Romney carried those who defined themselves as “strong” supporters of the Tea Party by 15 points in Wisconsin.  He lost them by 9 points in Ohio.

Romney still didn’t win among Evangelical voters in Wisconsin on Tuesday.  But, he lost this group by 3 points in Wisconsin -- a big improvement from Ohio where he lost them by 17 points.

This isn’t to say that the entire GOP electorate is completely sold on Romney.  Those who value a candidate who is “true conservative” or “has a strong moral character” continue to support Santorum.

But, when 83 percent of the Wisconsin electorate says they expect Romney to be the nominee, it’s clear that voters not only see the light at the end of the long tunnel that has been the GOP primary, but they want the party to get there -- now.

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Romney’s Victory Aside, Wisconsin Is Key for GOP in 2012

Medioimages/Photodisc/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Wisconsin, and Mitt Romney’s win there on Tuesday, could be an important watershed moment in the GOP primary, elevating Romney from front-runner to foregone conclusion as his party’s nominee.

It could be just as important in November, particularly since Republicans’ budget wunderkind Paul Ryan and their party chairman Reince Priebus both hail from there.

And the most important political event between now and the presidential election could be a hotly contested recall effort against Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

Wisconsin is likely to be an important swing state for the Republican party in the general election even though it has gone blue in the past several presidential elections; Al Gore carried it in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and most recently Barack Obama won the Badger State in 2008 with 56 percent of the vote, as compared to John McCain’s 42 percent.

Still, the state is not a Democratic stronghold by any means.  In fact, the state is, in many ways, a model for the shift in the political direction of the country since Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, and then the White House in 2008. 

It’s a shift Republicans would very much like to see continue -- first with a positive outcome in June when the state will hold a recall election for its governor and again in the general election in November.

Why does Wisconsin take on this particular importance?  For one, 2010 was a banner year for Republicans in Wisconsin.  In addition to electing a Republican governor, the state ushered in a new Republican senator -- Ron Johnson, who defeated Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold -- and two new Republican congressmen -- Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble.

Wisconsin Republicans achieved one other impressive feat that year: their state party chairman, Priebus, was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.  Additionally, Paul Ryan, the congressman from the first congressional district, rose to chairman of the House Budget Committee when Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives.

The bar has been set high for Wisconsin in 2012 with this in mind.  And the stakes are high there this time around as well.  In addition to the 10 electoral votes in the general election, there’s the possibility for a Republican pick-up in the Senate, where the retirement of Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl leaves an open race.

“Wisconsin is more than just a swing state at the presidential level,” explains ABC News Political Director Amy Walter.  “It is also the home of rising GOP star (and potential VP pick) Paul Ryan, and the site of a competitive Senate race that could help determine control of the U.S. Senate.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Mitt Romney Sweeps, Pegs President Obama as Out of Touch

Ethan Miller/Getty Images(MILWAUKEE) -- After sweeping wins in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C.’s primaries, Mitt Romney took to the stage Tuesday to deliver a pounding critique of President Obama, fully ignoring his GOP rivals and instead painting the president as “out of touch.”

“It’s enough to make you think that years of flying around on Air Force One, surrounded by an adoring staff of True Believers telling you that you’re great and you’re doing a great job, it’s enough to make you think that you might become a little out of touch with that, and that’s what’s happened,” Romney said of the president.

Romney skipped the perfunctory congratulations to his fellow GOP candidates. In fact, over the past few days of campaigning in Wisconsin, Romney has steered clear of mentioning his primary competitors, signaling a shift to the general election. Romney went straight after Obama Tuesday evening, saying another four years of his administration would ensure a “government-centered society.”

“This campaign is going to deal with many complicated issues but there’s a basic choice we’re going to face,” Romney said in the ballroom of an event space known as the Grain Exchange in downtown Milwaukee. “The president has pledged to transform America and he spent the last four years laying the groundwork for a government-centered society. I will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of an opportunity society led by free people and free enterprise.”

Romney looked ahead to the next set of primaries, the April 24 contests in five states in the Northeast.

“Tonight, I’m asking the good people of Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware and Connecticut to join me,” he said. “Join me in the next step toward that destination of Nov. 6, when across America we can give a sigh of relief and know that the promise of America has been kept.”

Romney, who for the first time on a primary night appeared on stage without any of his family members, was accompanied by Rep. Paul Ryan, who endorsed Romney late last week and buoyed the candidate during his tour of the Badger State.

Stuart Stevens, a senior strategist for Romney’s campaign, waved off rumors that Ryan may have been “auditioning” for the vice presidential slot, saying he’s “terrific” but declined to speculate on any potential role for Ryan in the campaign going forward.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Ryan Responds to Obama Criticism: President Is ‘More Partisan and Desperate by the Day'

Michael Bonfigli /The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images(MILWAUKEE) -- As Wisconsin voters headed to the polls Tuesday, the state’s most controversial congressman, Rep. Paul Ryan, ripped President Obama’s criticism of his budget proposal and praised Mitt Romney -- a man he endorsed last week -- for “relishing” the debate over how to solve the nation’s fiscal mess.

Earlier Tuesday Obama called Ryan’s budget proposal “thinly veiled social Darwinism,” saying it was “disguised as deficit reduction plans” but “really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country.” That was a charge denounced by Ryan in a phone interview with ABC News Tuesday evening.

“Desperate and demagogic is how I would describe his speech in two words,” Ryan said. “Unfortunately we’ve become accustomed to this kind of rhetoric from the president. I feel like it’s Groundhog Day, except it’s April. He essentially said the same thing last year.

“His speeches are becoming more partisan and desperate by the day and his attempts to divide the nation and to distract people from his own failure to lead -- I just don’t think are going to work,” he continued. “I think people are smarter than that."

“The president’s attacks on our budget are as disappointing, as revealing as his attacks on the Supreme Court,” Ryan said. “It seems that he takes anyone questioning his vision of limitless government as a personal affront and he’s lashing out. That’s hardly the kind of leadership we were expecting when he ran for office.”

Ryan, who announced his support for Romney last Friday, is chairman of the House Budget Committee and has come in for withering criticism from Democrats such as the president for a budget plan to transform Medicare that he says would give states and individuals more choices while slashing government spending.

The Ryan budget has added fuel to the fire of how to address the nation’s soaring deficits, with Republicans rallying around it and Democrats arguing that it will destroy the social fabric of the country. Earlier Tuesday, Obama called the Ryan budget the Republicans’ “governing platform.”

“This is what they’re running on,” the president said.

Given the White House’s full-throated attack on Ryan’s budget, Romney’s decision to praise the proposal, campaign around Wisconsin with Ryan, and -- possibly -- to pick him as a running mate later this year does carry some risks. Romney has praised Ryan’s plan as “a bold and exciting effort” that is “consistent” with his own proposal.

“I applaud it,” Romney said last month of Ryan’s budget. “It’s an excellent piece of work and very much needed.”

While Ryan would not discuss any possibilities for a VP pick -- “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals like that” -- the congressman did emphasize that Romney will not back down from any budget fights.

“He’s already there. He’s already saying we have to offer the country the choice of two futures. We need serious leaders who are going to put out serious solutions and he wants to take this to the country,” Ryan said.

To that end, Ryan said that Romney will defend his controversial budget during the upcoming campaign -- and do so effectively.

But first Romney has to secure the Republican presidential nomination once and for all. Romney's victories in Tuesday night's primaries could help.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

ABC News Projects Mitt Romney Will Win Wis., Md. and DC Primaries

DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Based on analysis of exit polls, ABC News has projected Mitt Romney will win the Republican primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and District of Columbia, beating his main challenger, Rick Santorum, in what has become mostly a formality as the perennial frontrunner jogs toward the party's nomination.

As polls closed in Maryland and Washington, D.C., at 8 p.m. ET, ABC News projected that Romney would defeat second-place Rick Santorum in Maryland. Santorum did not quality to make the D.C. ballot. Polls closed for voters in Wisconsin at 9 p.m. ET, where Romney also claimed victory.

Looking more inevitable than ever, Romney strode through the latest primary contests with a parade of establishment and revered GOP figures hoisting him up. His latest endorsements came from former President George H.W. Bush, budget idol Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and tea party scion Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

Already Romney had indicated that mentally, he'd moved on from the primary and on to the general election, after decidedly winning the primary in Illinois, a state in which Santorum's blue-collar appeal could have boosted him but didn't.

This week, the Republican National Committee -- which technically stays out of the primary until a nominee is decided -- announced it would start raising money jointly with the Romney campaign.

In Wisconsin, voters seemed to agree. Preliminary exit polls showed that regardless of their choice, 80 percent of them said they expected Romney to win the nomination, even as half of them said the former Massachusetts governor was "not conservative enough."

In a speech to supporters in Wisconsin, Romney, who has been dogged by charges that as a mega-millionaire he doesn't understand working-class values, planned to call President Obama disconnected.

"It's enough to make you think that years of flying around on Air Force One, surrounded by an adoring staff of true believers telling you what a great job you are doing, well, that might be enough to make you a little out of touch," he planned to say, according to excerpts of his speech.

Despite Romney's wins, Santorum showed no signs of leaving the race.

"We have now reached the point where it's halftime," he told his fans in Pennsylvania, his home state. "Half the delegates in this process have been selected. And who's ready to charge out of the locker room in Pennsylvania for a strong second half?"

Romney won the majority of voters in many demographics, according to exit polls. For example, among the 40 percent of Maryland voters who said beating Obama was the most important characteristic for the eventual nominee, Romney won over 72 percent of them. He also won 65 percent of the vote among those who said experience is most important.

Romney's rivals have tried to block his seemingly unstoppable road to victory, pledging to stay in the race until the party's convention in August, in Tampa, Fla. By the rules of the Republican Party, the nominee must win 1,144 delegates, who are divvied up after each state primary; Romney is the only candidate who has a realistic path to get to that number, an argument that his campaign has made repeatedly.

Tuesday night's victory extends Romney's lead even more. Most of Maryland's 37 delegates and Wisconsin's 39 are likely to go to Romney, and he'll get all of D.C.'s 16, too.

A figure that will stick out no matter how well Romney performs is the money that has been spent in his favor -- a dollar amount that Democrats are sure to say indicates that his appeal is artificial. For example, the Romney campaign and the super PAC supporting it have spent more than $3 million on TV ads in Wisconsin, four times as much as Santorum and his super PAC have spent.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

In Pennsylvania, Romney Plans Next Move

AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Looking ahead to what will be the next big primary, the Romney campaign is wasting no time setting up in Pennsylvania.

The home state of Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania offers a unique opportunity for the Romney campaign, which could look to end the long primary season with a substantial win in the Keystone State.

The Romney campaign has set up a campaign headquarters in capital Harrisburg and four paid staffers are already in the state.

Expect an influx of staffers to join after Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin.

In addition, Romney has plans to campaign in the state as early as this week, with fundraisers and other events in the state expected throughout the month.

Santorum has already arrived in Pennsylvania, and has dubbed the state a “must-win” for his campaign.

Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island hold primaries on April 24.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Romney Says Obama Ad Ducks Responsibility

Priorities USA Action(WAUKESHA, Wis.) -- Mitt Romney shot back Tuesday at the new ad released by President Obama’s re-election campaign, accusing the president of not taking responsibility for his administration’s mistakes.

“The president put an ad out yesterday talking about gasoline prices and how high they are and guess who he blamed? Me,” said Romney, speaking at a Cousins Subs sandwich shop. “Maybe after I’m president I can take responsibility for things I might have done wrong, but this president doesn’t want to take responsibility for his mistakes.”

“I can tell you this as well, if I become president of The United States I will undoubtedly not get everything perfect,” he said. “There may be some things that don’t work out as well as I’d hoped. I will acknowledge that. I will say that I take responsibility for what goes well and what doesn’t.”

“I know the president is going to try to take credit for everything that happens in America that’s good,” Romney said. “I knew that feeling when the Red Sox won the World Series. I wanted to say, ‘That’s me,’ you know, but I didn’t say that.”

“But this president is unwilling to take responsibility for his mistakes and he’s going to be looking everywhere he can to find someone else to blame,” Romney said.

Before making the remarks Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan doled out sandwiches to patrons, offering turkey, ham and cheese and Italian subs to the long line, many of whom pledged their support to Romney.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio