In a Super Tuesday slugfest, Mitt Romney was the apparent winner of the coveted Ohio primary, edging out rival Rick Santorum, NBC News declared. The apparent win gave Romney his fifth of the night, delivering a critical boost to a campaign GOP voters had been reluctant to embrace. It was no knockout, as Santorum was the projected winner in three states. With 96 percent of Ohio's vote in, Romney led Santorum 38 percent to 37. Projections showed that Romney also notched wins in Massachusetts, Virginia, Vermont, Idaho and Alaska, while Santorum took Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Dakota. Newt Gingrich won his home state of Georgia. The razor-close results in Ohio and his other projected wins keep Santorum in the thick of the GOP race and show that Romney has yet to pull away from his rivals and unify Republicans behind his candidacy, NBC's First Read team reported.
