Massachusetts has 41 GOP delegates up for grabs.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks to reporters on his campaign plane before taking off for Boston, Tuesday, March 6, 2012, in Columbus, Ohio. Romney has won the Virginia Republican primary on Super Tuesday.

BOSTON — Mitt Romney cruised to an easy primary win in Massachusetts on Tuesday, besting his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls in a state that he governed for four years and that the other GOP candidates all but conceded.

Romney handily beat Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, who put little money or effort into trying to deny him a victory.

Romney returned to the state for the first time in months to cast his ballot at a senior center in Belmont, where he and his wife, Ann Romney, own a condominium and raised their family.

"It's great to be back home," Mitt Romney told reporters after voting.

Romney said it had been "a couple of months" since he'd been in Massachusetts and he was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed.

He planned to address supporters Tuesday night at the Westin Copley Place hotel in Boston as Super Tuesday results poured in from around the country.

With President Barack Obama facing no competition on the Democratic ballot, voting appeared to be light across the state. Turnout was expected to be higher in communities with more Republican voters.

State election officials had no reports of voting irregularities at the polls.

Romney's win was expected. Polls had given him a commanding lead among GOP primary voters.

But those polls show Romney trailing Obama by double digits in a state that has traditionally shunned Republican presidential candidates.

Massachusetts Democrats tried to use Tuesday's contest to build support for the general election and to take a few whacks at Romney.

Obama campaign officials said volunteers have been conducting training sessions, holding phone banks, canvassing neighborhoods and hosting house parties to reach out to voters as they work to build their campaign infrastructure for November.

Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh said Romney "made the same hollow promises that his business background would translate into job growth" when he ran for governor a decade ago.

But Republicans are holding out hope that Romney's strong playing could open the door to a possible GOP win in November in Massachusetts.

Those odds are long.

The last Republican to win Massachusetts in the November presidential election was Ronald Reagan, Obama remains popular and Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick is actively campaigning on Obama's behalf.

One recent poll found Romney trailing Obama in a head-to-head matchup, with Obama receiving the support of 60 percent of voters, compared with 36 percent for Romney.

Romney's primary win should deliver to him the bulk of the state's 41 GOP delegates. The state is not winner-take-all, but a candidate needs at least 15 percent of the vote for a chance to pick up any delegates.

Massachusetts Republican voters said they were happy to cast their ballots for Romney, who has pointed to his fiscal management of the state as one of his key campaign selling points.

Dylan Bausemer, of Whitman, voted for Romney in part because he has promised to cut taxes.

"He's got good business experience. It's jobs and taxes," the 50-year-old truck driver said after voting.

The government is too generous, he said.

"We've got to get these social programs taken care of," he said. "It seems like everybody's got their hand out. Ninety-nine weeks for unemployment? That's almost two years."

Wesley Arning, a 19-year-old student from Wenham, said Romney "seems like the only logical choice" because of his business and political background.

"He's a different candidate than President Obama," said Arning, who attends Gordon College. "President Obama was an inspirer. That's not the case with Romney. I'm voting for him because he's qualified, because I think he has what it takes. ... I can picture him in that office because of what he's done in the past."

Some Democrats, even though their candidate faced no competition, made the trek to the polls to give Obama a vote of confidence.

Ann MacDonald, a 79-year-old retired nurse from Whitman, is a registered Democrat who thinks Obama deserves a second term.

"He came up the hard way. He's made something of himself," she said after voting. "I know he's one of the smartest presidents we've ever had."

Republicans don't understand what it's like to struggle, she said, noting that several members of her family are looking for work.

"The others (Republicans), I don't think they care that much about the little people," she said.

Green Rainbow Party voters were also faced with the choice of three presidential candidates on the Massachusetts ballot: Kent Mesplay, of California; Harley Mikkelson, of Michigan; and Jill Stein, of Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts, only enrolled and independent voters can cast votes in each party's ballot. Registered Democrats cannot cross lines and vote in a Republican primary.

In the smallest of 10 states holding Super Tuesday primaries or caucuses, the event shared the stage with the Vermont's annual Town Meeting Day state holiday.

Associated PressA voter casts his ballot at the polling place Tuesday, March 6, 2012 in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

By DAVE GRAM

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won Vermont's Republican presidential primary on Tuesday, but many voters' attention appeared focused elsewhere.

With 26 of 260 precincts reporting, Romney had drawn support from 39 percent of those voting in the GOP primary. Texas congressman Ron Paul had 26 percent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had 25 percent and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 8 percent

In the smallest of 10 states holding Super Tuesday primaries or caucuses, the event shared the stage with the state's annual Town Meeting Day state holiday, when residents traditionally gather in town halls and school auditoriums to debate and vote on municipal and school budgets and elect local leaders.

Many voters turned out to do their local business and vote on ballot questions ranging from supporting homegrown agriculture to protesting a U.S. Supreme Court decision lifting restrictions on corporate and union giving to political campaigns.

"We have a greater voice in local elections than we do on a national scale," said Robb Kidd, a 41-year-old organizer for a farm advocacy group.

Kidd said he was supporting Paul in the GOP primary.

"I don't necessarily agree with all of his issues," Kidd said, "but he'll bring a serious challenge to the status quo."

Secretary of State Jim Condos said he expected turnout to be between the 28 percent of voters who turned out for the 2004 primary and the 47 percent who turned out in 2008.

Condos also predicted that in strongly liberal Vermont, more people would take the Democratic primary ballot than the Republican one, despite the fact that President Barack Obama was running unopposed for his party's nomination.

In an interview outside Montpelier City Hall, site of the only polling station in the nation's smallest state capital, Kidd said his main interest was in supporting a ballot item promoting local "food sovereignty" over "the industrial food system that exploits local resources to benefit multinational corporations."

"Generally, the country is in economic collapse," Kidd said. "We're going to need to re-localize energy, food consumption. ... We have to retool America."

Another ballot item that appeared to be drawing interest encouraged adoption of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution stating that "money is not speech and corporations are not persons." That was in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision of 2010, which allowed corporations, unions and wealthy people to raise and spend unlimited campaign funds via political action committees known as super PACs as long as they don't work directly with a candidate.

Vermont Republicans said even a small number of delegates like the 14 up for grabs in the state's Republican presidential primary could make a difference in a nominating contest that is still volatile.

Vermont will send 17 delegates to this year's Republican convention. Three of the slots are taken by the state party chairman and two national committee members, who have endorsed Romney. If, as appeared Tuesday evening will be the case, no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, the delegates will be distributed proportionately.

"With a competitive primary like this has been, every delegate counts," said Darcie Johnston, a volunteer on Romney's campaign. "Vermont's 14 delegates are just as important as Arizona's or Ohio's or any other state, to reach the number of delegates needed to be the nominee."

But even as people prepared to vote Tuesday there was indecision among potential Republican primary voters.

"I still have second thoughts about any and all candidates that are involved," said Lisa Marinelli, of Montpelier. "I will vote, Republican if I do, but I'm not sure I'm going to vote in the primary this time. I'm not satisfied with any four of those candidates."

She said she's "looking for a lot more."

"Maybe if we could bind them all together and come up with something that would be my candidate, but right now I'm still undecided," she said.

But support for Obama was strong.

"I will continue to vote for him because I think he's doing a good job even though the Republicans are preventing him from doing what they want," said David Murtagh, who is 71 and is retired. "If the Republicans have an idea that will help us and Obama says, 'Oh, that's good, let's go with it,' the Republicans immediately will shoot it down. So until they can start acting like humans that are working for us, I can't go Republican, on any level I can't go because they're all tied in with that tea party."

Under the proposal, terminally ill Massachusetts residents would be eligible to request a prescription for pills to end their own lives.

File photo / The Republican

BOSTON - Disabled people, hospice leaders and other opponents clashed with supporters on Tuesday over a planned statewide ballot question for November that would allow certain terminally ill people to self-administer drugs to take their own lives.

Laura Tuttle, of Raynham, a registered nurse who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, in 2009, criticized the proposal, which was aired as a bill during a Statehouse hearing by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, another step toward placing the bill as a question on the ballot. Tuttle said the proposal is not the answer when people have access to quality hospice care in Massachusetts.

"As my end of life approaches, experience as a hospice professional assures me that I will remain in control, living my life to the fullest and free of the burden of pain," said Tuttle, who became choked up during her testimony.

Under the bill, which mirrors the proposed ballot question, adult Massachusetts residents would be eligible to request a prescription for pills to end their own lives. To qualify, people would need to be diagnosed with a terminal illness and given six months or less to live by a primary doctor with verification by a consulting doctor. Similar "death with dignity" laws exist in Oregon and Washington.

Terminally ill patients would have to make three requests to receive the medications including two oral and one written, with two different waiting periods between the final request and the prescription, according to supporters.

A panel of supporters was forced to wait more than five hours to testify.

In testimony to the committee, Heather Clish, of Reading, a supporter, said her father was 66 when he used Oregon's "death with dignity" law to end his life, after he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Clish said only her father could have made the decision and taken the action to drink a mix of crushed pills and water and to swallow it on his own. She said it is compassionate and kind to allow people the choice when death is near and unavoidable.

"His was not a choice between living and dying," Clish said. "His was a choice between dying one way or another way."

Another supporter of the bill, Mary Ellen Dixon of Haverhill, said her "second mother" committed suicide by cutting her wrists with a razor and bleeding to death, after twice failing to overdose on pills. The woman, who cared for her when she was growing up and became part of her family, had terminal congestive heart failure, and an arterial disease, Dixon said. Because of the disease, the woman had both legs amputated and was poised to have an arm amputated when she took her own life with the razor, she told the committee.

"You have the opportunity now to see that no one in Massachusetts ever has to live with the memory that I carry with me forever," Dixon said.

The hearing by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary was required as part of the process for the proposed "death with dignity" question to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot. After proponents turned in about 80,000 certified signatures of voters in December, the state Legislature was required to consider the proposed ballot question as a bill. Under the state constitution, legislators have until May 2 to pass proposed ballot question as a bill.

If the bill doesn't pass or legislators fail to act, supporters would need to collect an additional 11,485 voter signatures to qualify for placement of the questions on the Nov. 6 ballot.

It's the same process for three other questions headed for the ballot including proposals to legalize medical marijuana, create a new system for evaluating teachers and force vehicle manufacturers to sell to independent shops all the computer software they need to correctly figure out the problems of vehicles belonging to customers.

Sean F. Curran

State Rep. Sean F. Curran, a Springfield Democrat and member of the Judiciary Committee, said he would oppose the bill and the ballot question to allow the terminally ill to take their own lives. Curran cited testimony from physicians who opposed the proposal.

"Based on the testimony of doctors, it's not good policy," Curran said.

Dr. Lynda Young, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, testified in opposition to the bill. "As the American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics states, “It is understandable although tragic, that some patients in extreme duress…may come to decide that death is preferable to life. However, allowing physicians to participate in assisted suicide would cause more harm than good. Physician assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer," she said, according to her prepared testimony.

Karen A. Schneiderman, 57, of Boston, who was born with Spina bifida and is confined to a wheelchair, said the bill is telling people that their life has no value and that depression is a normal response to their sorry state.

"As long as we devalue people with disabilities and other categories such as the elderly, we have constructed a hierarchy of human value and we will have to live with that blood on our hands," said Schneiderman, a psychological counselor.

Santorum campaigned in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis in the days before the primary, often in church settings.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), in Washington, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rick Santorum has won Tennessee's Republican presidential primary.

With 2 percent of precincts reporting, Santorum has 45 percent to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's 28 percent.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is in third place with 18 percent, and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has 7 percent.

Santorum campaigned in Chattanooga, Knoxville and Memphis in the days before the primary, often in church settings.

Preliminary results from an exit poll conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press show about seven in 10 Tennessee voters identified themselves as born-again Christians, and about three-quarters said it mattered at least somewhat that a candidate shared their religious beliefs.

Tennessee has 55 delegates up for grabs, the third most among the 10 Super Tuesday states.

Targeted cuts include those at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee and Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield.

File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanMay 13, 2010 - Chicopee - Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - SSgt Matthew T. Whipple of Broad Brook, Ct., checks one of the engines of a C-5B Air Force cargo jet during pre-flight check prior to start of mission to the Middle East Thursday at Westover Air Reserve Base. He is a member of the 439th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

Air Force manpower reductions for the fiscal year that begins in October could result in the loss of 153 civilian and 180 military jobs across Massachusetts as early as Oct. 1.

The targeted positions are at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee; Otis Air National Guard Base; Hanscom Air Force Base and Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield. No reductions were listed for the Cape Cod Air Force Station.

“Reports of proposed cuts to the Air Force, including here in Massachusetts, have significant national security and economic implications for us all,” said Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray. “Although these proposals are preliminary, they add a new urgency to our work to protect the state’s military operations,” he said.

In the all, the Air Force announced Tuesday FY13 manpower cuts of 3,900 active duty; 5,100 Air National Guard and 900 Air Force Reserve.

The majority of cuts for Massachusetts target Otis Air National Guard Base and specifically the Air Operations Group assigned there, according to Maj. Gen. L. Scott Rice, commander of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

“Other manpower changes for the state appear relatively small and impact small units. All are important in our efforts to preserve our what we have and my attention right now if very focused on Otis,” Rice said.

“This is the first step and I want to see when, where and how this will set in. But, these are real people now facing a change in their careers. It is important to take care of our people,” Rice said.

Otis currently has 895 part-time guard members serving with 146 full-time guard and 265 civilian personnel. The Air Force cut will eliminate 135 part-time and 8 full-time unit members along with 31 civilians.

Westover has a total of 2,333 reserve members with 79 full-time reserves and 838 civilian workers. The planned cut is four reserve members and 13 civilians effective with the FY13 budget.

At Hanscom Air Force Base, 48 military personnel and 108 civilian workers face cuts. Currently there are 1,024 military and 1,837 positions at Hanscom according to statistics provided by the Air Force.

The 104th Fighter Wing stationed at Barnes Airport currently has 801 part-time military, 149 full-time military and 273 civilian positions. The part-time manpower list will increase by seven but full-time military will lose two positions and one civilian post will be eliminated if the Air Force reduction plan is implemented.

The Air Force announcement Tuesday affecting Fiscal 2013 federal budget is part of the Defense Department plan to cut $500 billion in defense spending over the next 10 years.

The Air Force last month announced plans to trim half of the C-5 jumbo jet transports assigned to the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover by 2016. The plan is to reassign eight of the transports to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Air Force chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said Tuesday “Our Total Force programmed reductions follow detailed assessments of future conflict scenarios and rational requirements consistent with the new strategic guidance.”

Brig. Gen. Brian Neal, Air National Guard readiness Center commander, said the guard will “internally realign its remaining manpower at units across the United States to properly source emerging force structure requirements and bolster readiness.”

Murray last month launched a Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force that includes state, business, labor leaders who will work with Massachusetts Congressional delegation to develop efforts to preserve military jobs, units and installations in the Baystate.

“No other New England state is an organized, and we will continue to work with our congressional delegation and partners in the defense and innovation industries to safeguard the commonwealth from detrimental base realignment proposals,” Murray said.

Murray, members of the task force are scheduled for a briefing Wednesday by Massachusetts National Guard commander Maj. Gen. Joseph C. Carter and Rice on proposed defense reductions.

Murray and task force members toured Barnes Air National Guard Base last month in its military assessment effort. He is scheduled to tour Westover Air Reserve Base on March 15.

Fitzsimmons was arrested Feb. 23 in Middlebury, Conn. in connection with a misdemeanor sexual assault that reportedly happened in 2006.

The Republican / File photoThe gate at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley.

SOUTH HADLEY - Mount Holyoke College has placed its squash coach on leave following his arrest in late February on a sexual assault charge stemming from an incident reported to have taken place 5 years ago while he was employed at a Connecticut preparatory school.

Allan J. Fitzsimmons, 30, was arrested by Middlebury, Conn. police on Feb. 23 and charged with 4th degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor offense. He is scheduled to appear in Waterbury GA 4 for his arraignment on Wednesday.

Middlebury police officials were not available to comment on the arrest, and detailed of the specific charges were not available. According to court records, the offense is reported to have occurred on Sept. 1, 2006.

At the time, Fitzsimmons was employed as a coach, teacher and administrator at the Westover School, an all-girls preparatory school.

He has been at Mount Holyoke since 2008.

The college announced that Fitzsimmons has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.

"It's Columbine all over again," Ryan Ringuette responded to Natick Sands after Sands started a Facebook conversation about a killing spree.

View full sizeAssociated PressNatick Sands, left, 18, and Ryan Ringuette, right, 20, stand during their arraignment in Attleboro, Mass., District Court Tuesday, March 6, 2012. They face threat charges after an alleged Facebook discussion about how to attack Attleboro High School. Both are former students at that school. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

ATTLEBORO — Two former students arrested after talking on Facebook about attacking Attleboro High School have pleaded not guilty to a threat charge, as family and friends say they didn't intend any harm.

A prosecutor said in court Tuesday 18-year-old Natick Sands started the Facebook conversation about a killing spree after he argued with a woman, and 20-year-old Ryan Ringuette responded, "It's Columbine all over again." The conversation allegedly continued with a discussion of how they could carry out an attack, including a reference to killing the school police officer.

Defense attorneys said the men cooperated with police and no weapons were found at their homes.

They were held for possible probation violations. Bail was set at $7,500. The judge also ordered mental health evaluations and told them to avoid the Internet. They return to court March 19.

There were primaries in Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, Massachusetts, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Caucuses in North Dakota, Idaho and Alaska rounded out the calendar.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney rolled to primary victories in Virginia, Vermont and home-state Massachusetts on Super Tuesday, reaching for a decisive advantage in the most turbulent race for the Republican presidential nomination in a generation.

But his rivals countered crisply. Rick Santorum won in Tennessee and Oklahoma, while Newt Gingrich scored a home-field win in Georgia — fresh evidence that they retain the ability to outpace the former Massachusetts governor in parts of the country despite his huge organizational and financial advantages.

Romney and Santorum also dueled in Ohio, their second industrial-state showdown in as many weeks and the marquee matchup of the busiest night of the race.

In Ohio, with 15 percent of the precincts counted, Santorum had 38 percent, Romney 36 percent, Gingrich 15 percent and Paul 8 percent.

Win or lose there, Romney said "I think we'll pick up a lot of delegates, and this is a process of gathering enough delegates to become the nominee and I think we're on track to have that happen."

There were primaries in Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, Massachusetts, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Caucuses in North Dakota, Idaho and Alaska rounded out the calendar.

In all, 419 delegates were at stake in the 10 states, and Romney's early wins allowed him to pad his earlier lead for the nomination.

He picked up at least 64 during the evening, Gingrich 23.

That gave the former Massachusetts governor 264 in The Associated Press count, while Santorum had 92, Gingrich 56 and Paul 25. It takes 1,144 to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention this August in Tampa, Fla.

In interviews as voters left their polling places, Republicans in state after state said the economy was the top issue and an ability to defeat Obama was what mattered most as they made their Super Tuesday choices.

They also indicated nagging concerns about the candidate they supported, even in Massachusetts, There, one-third of all primary voters said they had reservations, and about three-quarters of those voted for Romney.

Massachusetts is a reliably Democratic state in most presidential elections, but in Ohio, 41 percent of primary voters said they, too, had reservations about the candidate they supported. No Republican has ever won the White House without capturing Ohio.

Gingrich's victory was his first since he captured the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21, and the former House speaker said it would propel him on yet another comeback in a race where he has faded badly over the past six weeks.

Obama, the man they hope to defeat in November, dismissed the almost-constant criticism of his foreign policy efforts and accused Republicans of "beating the drums of war" over Iran. "Those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. They're not commander in chief," he said. Unopposed for the Democratic nomination to a second term, he stepped into the Republican race with a Super Tuesday news conference at the White House, then attended a $35,800-a-ticket fundraiser a few blocks from the White House.

Ohio was the day's biggest prize in political significance, a heavily populated industrial state that tested Santorum's ability to challenge Romney in a traditional fall battleground. Georgia, Gingrich's home political field, outranked them all in the number of delegates at stake, with 76, a total that reflected a reliable Republican voting pattern as well as population.

Romney, the leader in the early delegate chase, flew to Massachusetts to vote and said he hoped for a good home-state win.

He also took issue with Obama, saying, "I think all of us are being pretty serious" about Iran and its possible attempt to develop nuclear weapons.

Gingrich effectively acknowledged he had scant Super Tuesday prospects outside Georgia, where he launched his political career nearly three decades ago. Instead, he was pointing to primaries next week in Alabama and Mississippi, and he told an audience, "With your help, by the end of next week we could really be in a totally new race."

The polls show the president's chances for re-election have improved in recent months, as the economy has strengthened, unemployment has slowly declined and Republicans have ripped into one another in the most tumultuous nominating campaign the party has endured since 1976.

The former Massachusetts governor campaigned into Super Tuesday on a winning streak. He captured the Washington state caucuses last Saturday, days after winning a little-contested primary in Arizona and a hard-fought one in Michigan. He won the Maine caucuses earlier in February.

The victories helped settle his campaign, which was staggered when Santorum won a pair of caucuses and a non-binding Missouri primary on Feb. 7.

Santorum and Gingrich have vied for months to emerge as the sole conservative alternative to Romney, and they battered him as a moderate who would lead the party to defeat in November.

But Romney, backed by a heavily financed super PAC, countered Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina primary with a comeback win in Florida. Last week, it was Santorum's turn to fall, as Romney eked out a win in Michigan after trailing by double digits in some polls 10 days before the primary.

Santorum's recent rise has translated into campaign receipts of $9 million in February, his aides announced last week.

Even so, Romney and Restore our Future, the super PAC supporting him, outspent the other candidates and their supporters on television in the key Super Tuesday states.

In Ohio, Romney's campaign purchased about $1.5 million for television advertisements, and Restore Our Future spent $2.3 million. Santorum and Red, White and Blue, a super PAC that supports him, countered with about $1 million combined, according to information on file with the Federal Election Commission, a disadvantage of nearly four to one.

In Tennessee, where Romney did not purchase television time, Restore Our Future spent more than $1 million to help him. Santorum paid for a little over $225,000, and Winning our Future, a super PAC that backs Gingrich, nearly $470,000.

In Georgia, where Gingrich acknowledged he must win, the pro-Romney super PAC spent about $1.5 million in hopes of holding the former House speaker below 50 percent of the vote, the threshold needed to maximize his delegate take.

While the day boasted more primaries and caucuses than any other in 2012, it was a shadow of Super Tuesday in 2008, when there were 20 Republican contests.

There was another big difference, a trend away from winner-take-all contests to a system of allocating delegates in rough proportion to a candidate's share of the popular vote.

Sen. John McCain won eight states on Super Tuesday in 2008 and lost 12 to Romney and Mike Huckabee combined. But six of McCain's victories were winner-take-all primaries, allowing him to build an insurmountable delegate lead that all but sealed his nomination

Santorum made Oklahoma a priority and visited the state twice in recent weeks, calling it "ground zero of the conservative movement."

Associated PressJames Ginn, of Miami, Okla., votes in the Republican presidential primary Tuesday morning, March 6, 2012, at the polling place at the Miami Senior Citizens Center in Miami, Okla. (AP Photo/The Joplin Globe, T. Rob Brown)

By SEAN MURPHY

OKLAHOMA CITY — Rick Santorum won Oklahoma's Republican primary Tuesday, faring best among voters who said they sought a "true conservative" and a candidate with "strong moral character" to represent the party in this fall's campaign against President Barack Obama.

With 75 percent of the state's 1,961 precincts reporting unofficial returns, Santorum had 35 percent of the vote. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 27.3 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had 27 percent.

Santorum made Oklahoma a priority and visited the state twice in recent weeks, calling it "ground zero of the conservative movement." Four years ago, Obama failed to win any of the state's 77 counties.

The former Pennsylvania senator said Oklahoma fit him well and that he appealed to the conservative base of the Oklahoma Republican Party. Exit polling showed 75 percent of voters considered themselves evangelicals.

Several voters lamented during voting Tuesday that they were not satisfied with any of the four candidates remaining in the GOP primary race. Exit polling conducted for The Associated Press and other media showed that about half of Oklahoma voters identified themselves as "very conservative" and another quarter said they were "somewhat conservative."

Santorum won nearly half the support from the very conservative group and about two-fifths of the somewhat conservative group.

He also won Tennessee during the Super Tuesday primaries and proclaimed at a rally in Ohio that he was the candidate best equipped to beat Obama in the fall.

But in Oklahoma, Romney won among those seeking a candidate who could defeat Obama and Gingrich won more than half of those who said a candidate with the right experience was their top priority.

Oklahoma was dubbed "the reddest of the red states" after Obama's poor showing here four years ago, and Santorum visited twice in the last month. His strong opposition to abortion and gay rights hit home with Linda Turner, a retired nurse from Norman who considers herself a born-again Christian.

"I think he is very strong," Turner said after casting her ballot for Santorum at the Freeman Baptist Church in northeast Norman. "He doesn't waiver or fluctuate like Obama. Santorum, I feel like he would stand on the morals that our country was based on."

Rendon Chambers, a political science student at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, said he voted for Romney, believing the former Massachusetts governor's experience heading the private equity firm Bain Capital best positioned him to address the nation's economic problems.

"Rick Santorum is way too far right and Newt has way too much baggage," he said. "I believe Romney has the ability to reach across the aisle and work with members of both parties."

Santorum hoped to rejuvenate his bid to overtake Romney for the Republican presidential nomination by claiming his biggest primary prize yet.

Associated PressSheena Bentley, left, and Joel Hern vote at the Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church, Tuesday, March 6, 2012, in Cincinnati. Ohio is the biggest prize in political significance on Super Tuesday, the GOP presidential primary showdown across 10 states for more than 400 delegates. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have devoted much of their campaign attention to Ohio in recent days. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)

By DAN SEWELL

CINCINNATI — Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney were locked in a tight race in Ohio, as expected in the hotly contested and politically important Super Tuesday state.

The former Pennsylvania senator led by only 1,824 votes, or 38 percent, with 11 percent of Ohio's precincts reporting unofficial returns. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had 37.15 percent. Santorum hoped to rejuvenate his bid to overtake Romney for the Republican presidential nomination by claiming his biggest primary prize yet, while Romney hoped to add another key November swing state to bolster his front-runner status.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich was a distant third, at 15 percent, in the state that lies between Romney's native Michigan and Santorum's home state. Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who largely bypassed Ohio, was running at 8 percent.

Polls have tracked voter volatility among Ohio Republicans for months. Pizza magnate Herman Cain — who dropped out of the race in December — Gingrich and Santorum have all leapfrogged past Romney, only to fall back in the last six months. Late polls also indicated that significant numbers of likely Ohio primary voters said they might change their minds once they were casting their ballots.

Early results from an Ohio exit poll Tuesday found that many voters were undecided about a candidate until recently, with more than half saying they didn't decide until the last few days or weeks.

The state's geographic and economic diversity — cities, small towns, farmland and swaths of suburbs, along with Rust Belt manufacturing, agriculture, medical and high-tech businesses — made it a key test for the Republican contenders. No Republican nominee has reached the White House without carrying Ohio. President Barack Obama carried the state in 2008, after it delivered George W. Bush's clinching re-election margin in 2004.

Both candidates focused on Ohio in the last days before Tuesday's voting in 10 states. They crisscrossed the state and blitzed airwaves with ads. Santorum planned to watch returns in Steubenville, in eastern Ohio.

Gingrich made a weekend swing through Ohio, hoping to pick up some of the state's 63 delegates at stake. Even if Santorum wins the state, he faces leaving 18 delegates on the table because his campaign didn't get enough delegate candidates on all ballots.

Paul concentrated on states holding GOP caucuses Tuesday, although Ohio backers said he had pockets of support across the state. It's also relatively easy to cross over in Ohio's primaries, so Paul supporters wooed Democrats and independents, especially college-age ones.

Ohio has 66 Republican delegates total, including three party "super delegates" who aren't bound by the primary results.

The two-year position on the school board was the only contested race in town.

Eric Sarrazin

SOUTH HADLEY – Eric Sarrazin was elected to a two-year seat on the School Committee Tuesday as the town’s annual election was held in conjunction with the presidential primary.

Sarrazin collected 1,032 votes compared to the 849 garnered by his competitor, Winston Lavallee.

It was the only contested seat in the town election this year.

Sarrazin, 39, is a lifelong resident of South Hadley. He and his wife, Theresa, graduated from South Hadley High School in 1990.

They have two children, Julia, 11, and Nathan, 6, who are both in South Hadley schools. His wife has worked for the South Hadley schools for 22 years.

The family has long history in the town, as Sarrazin’s father worked for the Electric Light Department for 30 years.

“I have a vested interest in the town and in the community,” said Sarrazin.

He has not run for public office before, but said he had been thinking about running for the School Committee for two years and is passionate in his support of the schools.

He said his children will be in the system for another 11 years. “I live and breathe the school system on a daily basis,” he said.

He said people outside the community might have the misconception that the South Hadley school system is broken, and he wants to be active in changing that perception.

He also wants to focus on guidance departments.

Sarrazin said his financial background will be useful to the School Committee in budget-related matters.

He was working on his business degree at the University of Massachusetts when he got a chance to work at MassMutual. He is a relationship manager, which he said means advising companies on retirement plans.

“I feel great and I’m very happy,” said Sarrazin upon winning the race.

Lavallee, his opponent, is retired as a biology teacher, vice president and acting president at Holyoke Community College. He is the author of two novels, with a third forthcoming.

Also on the ballot for the School Committee was Kevin McAllister, who ran unopposed for a three-year term. McAllister was appointed by a joint committee to take over the seat of Robert Abrams, who withdrew three months into his term for health reasons.

When School Committee member Lorraine Liantonio decided to retire at the end of her term, McAllister decided to vacate his seat with two years left to go, and instead run for Liantonio’s three-year seat.

As long as the contest continues, Romney must cater to the staunchly conservative voters who dominate Republican primaries and caucuses.

By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney's lackluster showing in Super Tuesday's primaries nonetheless moves him closer to the Republican presidential nomination. But a string of events and voter data underscore his challenge in winning independent voters turned off by the long, divisive primary.

Romney's expected victories in Massachusetts, Virginia and Vermont, coupled with his struggle against Rick Santorum in Ohio, will not change GOP operatives' conviction that he is the likeliest nominee. He still has the most delegates, money, organization and experience.

"I'm going to get this nomination," Romney told supporters before Ohio's results were known.

Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich show no signs of dropping out, however. Santorum won Tennessee and Oklahoma and was running impressively in Ohio. Gingrich easily won Georgia. The results will give them and Paul enough encouragement to keep running for weeks, if not months.

As long as the contest continues, Romney must cater to the staunchly conservative voters who dominate Republican primaries and caucuses. And that's a problem for the former Massachusetts governor.

Heavy attention to the social issues that excite many conservatives is often distasteful to independents and centrists. They are the crucial voters who will decide whether President Barack Obama gets a second term in November.

The past week has been especially worrisome to GOP insiders. National debate focused on Republicans' challenges to birth control, Rush Limbaugh's verbal attack on a female law student, and what some Democrats call a GOP "war on women."

Romney tried to stay above the fuss. But his tardy and wan critique of Limbaugh's crass remarks didn't quiet his detractors, to the delight of Democratic activists.

Many Republican campaign veterans shrug off polls that show a dearth of GOP enthusiasm for Romney. Conservatives will rally behind the eventual nominee this fall because ousting Obama is their top goal, these strategists say.

But Romney's drop in esteem among independents is "the thing that's going to take some time to fix," said Terry Nelson, who was political director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.

A recent Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll suggested the hard-fought Republican contest is having a corrosive effect on many Americans, including independents. Forty percent of adults said the Republican primary has given them a less favorable impression of the party. Six in 10 independents used a negative term when asked to describe the party's nominating process.

Not since Bob Dole's 1996 race has a party's likely nominee been viewed negatively by a plurality of Americans at this point in an election, the poll found. Nearly 40 percent of Americans view Romney negatively, while 28 percent see him positively.

The same poll found Obama's approval rating at 50 percent, his highest level in 10 months, as more people expressed confidence in the economy.

Such findings may help explain the bounce in Obama's step Tuesday as he faced reporters at the White House. The president poked gentle fun at the Republicans' contest before turning serious, and scolding.

While the GOP candidates are "popping off" about a possible war with Iran, Obama said, he is the one who absorbs the costs of troops wounded or killed in battle. "Those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities," Obama said dismissively.

Romney benefits from Republican voters who are tired of the intra-party squabbling and who see him as having the best chance to beat Obama.

Romney "has less baggage than the others, and more money to help him against Obama," said Don Ryan, 71, who voted Tuesday in a Cincinnati suburb. He said he wishes other Republicans had run, and he's not sure Romney is a true conservative, but he wants the matter settled. "I was ready for it to be over in November," Ryan said.

Exit polls of Ohio Republican voters contained bits of good news for Romney. He did relatively well among voters who seem engaged in the fall campaign's likely chief themes: those who are fed up with government and see the economy and the deficit as top concerns. He and Santorum roughly split tea party voters.

Still, Santorum led easily among the socially conservative. Born-again or evangelical voters gave him a double-digit lead over Romney, who is Mormon.

These voters may grouse if Romney is the nominee. But they'll get over their hurt and "rally behind Romney," said long-time GOP consultant Charlie Black, who informally advises Romney's team. "Obama is the great uniter among Republicans," he said.

The tougher challenge may be independents. That's especially true if Democrats succeed in their bid to paint the Republican candidates as badly out of step on issues such women's access to birth control.

Black said independent voters tend to decide late in the process. That will give them about six months to compare Obama with Romney — if Romney is the nominee — and the economy will be the big issue.

Even if the economy continues its slow improvement, Black said, millions of Americans will still be unemployed, underemployed or no longer seeking work. The independent voters who swung heavily to the GOP in the 2010 mid-term elections care deeply about jobs, "Obamacare," the federal debt and a big-spending government, Black said.

"There are plenty of ways to keep jobs and the economy front and center," he said, and those issues play to Romney's strengths.

Black and other Republican campaign veterans will sleep better, however, when their contest ends and they can start training all their voters' ire on Obama.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Charles Babington covers national politics for The Associated Press. AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

Citywide, voter turnout was 5.6 perecent, and topped 10 percent in some precincts.

SPRINGFIELD – It was a very un-Super Tuesday in Springfield in regards to voter turnout for the Massachusetts Presidential Primary, including just six voters showing up at one precinct in the North End, according to Election Office results.

The six voters showed up at the Ward 1, Precinct A poll at the Riverview building on Division Street, representing .4 percent of the registered voters. The number of voters matched the number of workers at the poll site, officials said.

The Ward 1B precinct in the same building did better, with 39 ballots cast, or 2.7 percent of registered voters in that precinct.

Citywide, voter turnout was 5.6 percent.

“It’s disappointing,” Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola said. “I can’t put my finger on it.”

Some of the higher turnouts were in 7H, Glickman School (12 percent) and 7F, Kiley Middle School, (11.6 percent).

It cost the city and state approximately $90,000 to staff the polls in Springfield for 13 hours, with the state funding just three of the 13 hours, Oyola said. The cost included about 400 poll workers and 60 police officers to cover the 64 precincts citywide scattered at approximately 40 buildings.

The polls have to be fully staffed, including varying numbers of bilingual poll workers regardless of a low or higher turnout, Oyola said.

Some of the contributing factors to the low turnout were probably that Barack Obama was unopposed on the Democratic ballot, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was considered a “shoo-in” on the Republican ballot, Oyola said.

The Election Office stepped up efforts to get people registered and interested in the election this past year, and will intensify those efforts this year, although with limited staff, Oyola said.

Republican File PhotoGladys Oyola

Some of the voters who were interviewed after voting at different polls Tuesday said they take their right to vote very seriously.

“It’s my obligation to do it,” said Lee Vaugh of Ingersoll Grove, voting at the Rebecca Johnson School.

He said those who don’t bother to vote “shouldn’t complain afterwards” about the outcome.

Nancy Cintron, the warden in 4-B, at Rebecca Johnson, said she hopes educational efforts improve.

“It’s not the cold,” Cintron said, of the low turnout. “It’s been very slow. Maybe because it’s a primary.”

Judy Yeh, voting at the Good Life Center building on East Columbus Avenue, said she almost forgot to vote. She received an email from her civic association, reminding her to vote.

“I think it’s sad more people don’t exercise their right to vote,” Yeh said.

Although voters were few and far between across the commonwealth, Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and his chief Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, did vote in Tuesday's primary election.

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and his wife Ann, talk to reporters on his campaign plane before taking off for Boston, in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

With low voter turnout across Western Massachusetts, former Gov. W. Mitt Romney swept to victory in the Republican Primary in the Bay State Tuesday evening, leaving Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, and ex Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich trailing behind.

But despite Romney's victory across several of the 11 Super Tuesday states, it is likely the Republican battles will continue, according to political consultant Anthony Cignoli.

"This is far from over as Tuesday was no slam dunk for Mitt Romney," Cignoli said. "Gingrich said if he lost his home state of Georgia he would bow out. Well, that didn't happen and Santorum picked up some states and will likely last through the next big round of votes. But if March ends with Romney 400-500 delegates ahead, Santorum is going to have to reevaluate what comes next for him."

And although voters were few and far between across the commonwealth, Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and his chief Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, did vote in Tuesday's primary election.

Brown voted for Romney according to Colin Reed, a Brown campaign spokesman.

"Scott Brown is supporting Mitt Romney because he believes he’s the best person to create jobs and get the economy moving again," Reed told MassLive.com. "He voted absentee because the Senate is in session and he is in Washington for votes."

Warren's campaign didn't say who the consumer advocate voted for, but noted that she Elizabeth voted Tuesday morning in Cambridge alongside Democratic State Rep. Alice K. Wolf.

Cignoli said that Tuesday was never slated to be an exciting day in the commonwealth as it was a foregone conclusion that Romney would take the state.

In Springfield, the voter turnout was just 5.6 percent, a number which Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola called "disappointing."

Romney won the Republican ballot in Springfield with 57.7 percent of the vote followed by Santorum with 22.6 percent. Ron Paul finished third with 11.4 percent.

There are 45,974 registered Democrats in Springfield, 7,596 Republicans and 33,273 listed as unenrolled. Of those, just 4,903 voters cast ballots. Of the total ballots cast, approximately 2,400 voters opted for the Republican ballot.

“Voter turnout was absolutely abysmal,” said Alex Sherman, chairman of the Springfield Republican City Committee. “You would think voters would be more concerned about their country.”

The fact that President Barack Obama was unopposed on the Democratic ballot was probably a key factor to the low turnout in Springfield, Oyola said. In addition, the Republican presidential ballot included Romney as the former governor of Massachusetts, and voters likely considered him a “shoo-in,” not bothering to vote in larger numbers, Oyola said.

The polls started out and ended ice cold in Northampton on Tuesday, with only 658 of the 19,561 registered voters heading to the polls. Romney took 59 percent of the vote while Santorum and Paul took 19 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

City Clerk Wendy A. Mazza said she was the first person to vote in her ward when she stopped there before work. At Ward 5A, poll workers said the first voted did not appear until 7:30 a.m., a half hour after they opened the door.

“The polls are absolutely dead,” said Mazza, who mid-day cut her original prediction of a 20 percent turnout in half. “People are confused because Elizabeth Warren isn’t on (the ballot).”

Mazza believes the media is partly to blame that people had the impression that Tuesday was solely a Republican primary. In fact, there were ballots for the Democratic Party and the Green Party as well.

At Ward 5A, Robert Aquadro of Florence turned out to cast his vote for Rick Santorum.

“He’s as nice Italian boy,” Aquadro said. “I think he’s the best guy.”

William Childs cast only the 26th ballot when he came to vote for Obama at 11 a.m. The only other choice on the Democratic ballot for president was “No Preference.”

“I never miss an opportunity to vote,” Childs said. “I consider it a civic duty and a privilege.”

In Holyoke, voter turnout was 6.8 percent with only 1,631 of the city's 24,108 registered voters coming out to vote. Romney won with 59 percent of the vote with Santorum and Paul coming in second and third respectively.

At least one reason for the poor voter turnout cited by Registrar Suzanne Mead explained was that many voters were confused about whether they could vote in the presidential primary if they weren't Republicans.

"People don't understand what a primary is. They thought if they were unenrolled (in a party) or if they were Democrats, or they didn't have a party, they didn't have to vote," Mead said. "That's what I spent most of the time on the phone talking to people about."

The Ward 2A polling place in Holyoke was doing its best to leave pessimists smirking in delight Tuesday.

Only 40 votes had been recorded in the presidential primary by about 5 p.m. as the precinct at Morgan Elementary School at 596 South Bridge St. that usually yields among the city’s lowest voter turnouts didn’t disappoint.

“I just think it’s because it’s only the preliminaries. Come November, they’ll come and vote,” Warden Elizabeth Delgado said.

She said the mostly Hispanic precinct is primarily Democratic and many people thought the primary was exclusively Republican.

Throughout the day in Amherst, voters were hard to find as eager poll workers spent time doing crossword puzzles and reading.

Just after 2 p.m., Warden Ken Sammonds from Precinct 4 at the Bangs Community Center peered around a divider and announced to Ward 5 that they just had their 21st voter. Things were a little busier at Precinct 5, with 51 having cast ballots by then – which works out to about 7 an hour.

Sammonds said it was the slowest election he had ever seen. When the polls closed, only 6.5 percent of the town's 19,009 voters came out, with 54 percent, or 213 people, voting for Romney.

In Chicopee, 9.4 percent of the city's 34,185 registered voters turned out with 59 percent voting for Romney. Santorum pulled 23 percent while Paul pulled 10 percent.

Reporters Mike Plaisance, Peter Goonan, Fred Contrada and Diane Lederman contributed to this report.

"Mitt Romney will be a very formidable opponent," said Rep. Todd Smola, a Palmer Republican who said voters will be looking for a new face and a new opportunity in November.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters at the end of his Super Tuesday campaign rally in Boston, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

BOSTON — In the wake of Mitt Romney’s landslide victory in the Massachusetts Republican Presidential primary on Tuesday, local supporters of Romney said that if the former governor becomes the Republican nominee for president, he would enjoy excellent odds of winning the Nov. 6 general election.

“I think his chances of becoming president are excellent,” said Rep. Donald F. Humason, a Westfield Republican who was elected in 2002, the same year Romney was elected as governor in Massachusetts.

“Mitt Romney will be a very formidable opponent,” said Rep. Todd M. Smola, a Palmer Republican who said voters will be looking for a new face and a new opportunity in November.

Humason, Smola and other supporters pointed to Romney’s record in the private sector as a wildly successful venture capitalist, his experience as chief of the organizing committee for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, and then four years as governor in Massachusetts. They said Romney has the skills and experience to fix Washington and boost the economy.

Judging by past elections and a recent poll, Romney would be unlikely to win his home state on Nov. 6.

“This is the bluest of blue states,” said Smola, a Palmer Republican, who said the state’s political leanings are reflected in the state having only 33 Republicans in the 160-seat state House of Representatives and only four Republicans in the 40-seat Senate.

Smola said Romney will have a fair shot at winning Massachusetts, but the state is viewed nationally as solidly Democratic. It won’t be “the end of the world” for Romney if he loses Massachusetts, he said.

Starting with the 1996 election and including 2008, the Democratic nominee for president has won about at least 60 percent of the vote in Massachusetts.

Of the New England states, New Hampshire is expected to be the battleground in November, Smola said. New Hampshire, where Romney has a second home, narrowly voted for the Republican nominee for president in 2000, but was in the Democratic column for president in 2004 and 2008.

Humason said Romney’s prospects in Massachusetts are better than estimated by critics. He pointed out that Massachusetts voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

In a recent statewide poll of Massachusetts voters, President Obama received 60 percent to 36 percent for Romney in a contest for president.

The poll, conducted by Western New England University in conjunction with The Republican and MassLive.com, included 527 registered voters and was taken between Feb. 23 and March 1. The margin of error was 4.3 percentage points.

Said Town Council President Paul Burns after the meeting, "I think it was a good budget session. Department heads had the opportunity to come in and present their cases." No decisions were made, and the council took the requests under consideration.

The Republican/Michael Gordon

PALMER - The Town Council heard from several department heads at its first fiscal 2013 budget working session on Tuesday about the need to increase hours for several positions.

The first department head to speak was Senior Center Executive Director Erin E. Pincince, who made the case for adding to several positions, including the Memorial Hall janitor, Council on Aging van driver, Council on Aging activities director and Council on Aging outreach coordinator.

The janitor works 12 hours a week, and Pincince said she is asking for five additional hours. The renovations at the historic Memorial Hall - the home of the Senior Center - expanded the dining and kitchen areas, and added three more bathrooms, bringing the total to five, giving the janitor more work.

She said the janitor is having a hard time keeping up, and said she was told that when the renovations were completed two years ago, the janitor's hours would increase, but that never happened. Adding more hours would increase the budget for the position by approximately $3,000.

Pincince also discussed the problems that arise with having one of her van drivers only work 30 hours a week. At one time, she said the position was 40 hours a week.

"There are seniors in the morning who need to get to doctor's appointments," said Pincince, adding the driver starts at 8:30 a.m. and cannot take anyone to appointments after 1:15 p.m.

"We're having people refuse rides because of the drop in hours," Pincince said.

Restoring the position to 35 hours a week - an increase of $2,359.44 a year - would support the seniors and their transportation needs, Pincince said.

She also asked for the Town Council to approve increasing the hourly rate of the activities director from $12.39 to $15, but she noted that this position is entirely grant-funded, and the council would only have to approve the change.

The outreach coordinator is partially grant funded, but Pincince said she cannot increase her pay, currently $13.93 an hour, without town money. She is proposing to increase the pay to $18 an hour, and the hours the town is responsible for paying from 12 to 17.5, a $7,717 budget impact.

Pincince said this employee has been working for the town for 10 1/2 years. The only raise she received in the last four years was 1 percent this year. The outreach coordinator works a total of 35 hours a week, Pincince said.

"Palmer is very fortunate we have an outreach worker who is top notch. After 10 years on the job she is just excellent at what she does and deserves to be compensated," Pincince said about Outreach Coordinator Cindy Jasak.

Town Council President Paul E. Burns noted that this is one of the positions being reviewed in the ongoing salary study.

District 1 Town Councilor Philip J. Hebert spoke in favor of adding to the positions at the Senior Center.

Town Clerk Susan Coache asked for the assistant town clerk position to be restored to full time. It was a casualty of budget cuts several years ago. That would bring it from a $15,393 yearly salary to $25,925 annually.

Town Manager Charles T. Blanchard said if the budget allows, it would make sense to restore this position to full-time.

Coache said there is a need to have someone in the office all day to deal with the public's needs.

Burns asked about adding two part-timers instead, to save on health insurance costs. Blanchard said he felt hiring just one full-time person would be better option.

Said Burns after the meeting, "I think it was a good budget session. Department heads had the opportunity to come in and present their cases."

No decisions were made, and the council took the requests under consideration.

Councilors Blake E. Lamothe and Karl S. Williams were absent.

While Romney won in 4 states, Santorum won 3 and raised fresh doubts about Romney's ability to corral the votes of conservatives in some of the most Republican states in the country.

By DAVID ESPO | AP Special Correspondent

Associated PressLeft, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney addresses supporters at his Super Tuesday campaign rally in Boston. Right, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks to supporters at an election night party at Steubenville High School in Steubenville, Ohio.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney triumphed in four states, seized a slender late-night lead in pivotal Ohio and padded his delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. But he was forced to share the spotlight with a resurgent Rick Santorum on a Super Tuesday that stretched from one end of the country to the other.

On the busiest night of the campaign, Romney scored a home-state win in Massachusetts to go with primary victories in Vermont and in Virginia — where neither Santorum nor Newt Gingrich was on the ballot. He added the Idaho caucuses to his column.

Santorum countered crisply, winning primaries in Oklahoma and Tennessee and the North Dakota caucuses, and raising fresh doubts about Romney's ability to corral the votes of conservatives in some of the most Republican states in the country.

Ohio was the marquee matchup, a second industrial-state showdown in as many weeks between Romney and Santorum. It drew the most campaigning and television advertisements of all 10 Super Tuesday contests and for good reason— no Republican has ever won the White House without carrying the state in the fall.

After trailing for much of the night, Romney forged ahead in a count that stretched past midnight. With votes tallied in 96 percent of the state's precincts, he led by about 7,000 votes out of 1.1 million cast.

Gingrich had a victory in his column — his first win in more than six weeks. The former House speaker triumphed at home in Georgia, but a barrage of attack ads by a super PAC supporting Romney helped hold him below 50 percent and forced him to share the delegates.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul pinned his hopes on Idaho and Alaska as he scratched for his first victory of the campaign season.

Santorum waited until Oklahoma and Tennessee fell into his column before speaking to cheering supporters in Ohio. "This was a big night tonight," he said. "We have won in the West, the Midwest and the South, and we're ready to win across this country."

In all, there were primaries in Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, Massachusetts, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Caucuses in North Dakota, Idaho and Alaska rounded out the calendar.

Some 419 delegates were at stake in the 10 states.

Romney picked up at least 148 delegates during the evening, Santorum 64, Gingrich 52 and Paul at least 14.

That gave the former Massachusetts governor 351, more than all his rivals combined, a total that included endorsements from members of the Republican National Committee who automatically attend the convention and can support any candidate they choose. Santorum had 156 delegates, Gingrich 85 and Paul 39. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., this summer.

Ohio Republicans were a party divided, based not only on the popular vote but also on interviews with voters as they left their polling places.

Santorum outpolled Romney among Ohioans with incomes under $100,000, while Romney won among those with six-figure incomes and up. Romney won among working women, Santorum among women who do not.

Santorum won among self-described conservatives, while Romney outpointed his rival among those who said they are moderate or liberal. Santorum was preferred by the half of the electorate that is born-again. Romney was the favorite among the half of the electorate that said it is not.

In interviews in all the primary states, Republicans said the economy was the top issue and an ability to defeat Obama was what mattered most as they made their Super Tuesday choices.

They also indicated nagging concerns about the candidate they supported, even in Massachusetts, There, one-third of all primary voters said they had reservations, and about three-quarters of those voted for Romney.

Massachusetts is a reliably Democratic state in most presidential elections, but in Ohio, 41 percent of primary voters said they, too, had reservations about the candidate they supported. No Republican has ever won the White House without capturing Ohio.

Gingrich's victory was his first since he captured the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21, and the former House speaker said it would propel him on yet another comeback in a race where he has faded badly over the past six weeks.

Obama, the man they hope to defeat in November, dismissed the almost-constant criticism of his foreign policy efforts and accused Republicans of "beating the drums of war" over Iran. "Those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. They're not commander in chief," he said. Unopposed for the Democratic nomination to a second term, he stepped into the Republican race with a Super Tuesday news conference at the White House, then attended a $35,800-a-ticket fundraiser a few blocks from the White House.

Ohio was the day's biggest prize in political significance, a heavily populated industrial state that tested Santorum's ability to challenge Romney in a traditional fall battleground. Georgia, Gingrich's home political field, outranked them all in the number of delegates at stake, with 76, a total that reflected a reliable Republican voting pattern as well as population.

Romney, the leader in the early delegate chase, flew to Massachusetts to vote and said he hoped for a good home-state win.

He also took issue with Obama, saying, "I think all of us are being pretty serious" about Iran and its possible attempt to develop nuclear weapons.

Gingrich effectively acknowledged he had scant Super Tuesday prospects outside Georgia, where he launched his political career nearly three decades ago. Instead, he was pointing to primaries next week in Alabama and Mississippi, and he told an audience, "With your help, by the end of next week we could really be in a totally new race."

The polls show the president's chances for re-election have improved in recent months, as the economy has strengthened, unemployment has slowly declined and Republicans have ripped into one another in the most tumultuous nominating campaign the party has endured since 1976.

The former Massachusetts governor campaigned into Super Tuesday on a winning streak. He captured the Washington state caucuses last Saturday, days after winning a little-contested primary in Arizona and a hard-fought one in Michigan. He won the Maine caucuses earlier in February.

The victories helped settle his campaign, which was staggered when Santorum won a pair of caucuses and a non-binding Missouri primary on Feb. 7.

Santorum and Gingrich have vied for months to emerge as the sole conservative alternative to Romney, and they battered him as a moderate who would lead the party to defeat in November.

But Romney, backed by a heavily financed super PAC, countered Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina primary with a comeback win in Florida. Last week, it was Santorum's turn to fall, as Romney eked out a win in Michigan after trailing by double digits in some polls 10 days before the primary.

Santorum's recent rise has translated into campaign receipts of $9 million in February, his aides announced last week.

Even so, Romney and Restore our Future, the super PAC supporting him, outspent the other candidates and their supporters on television in the key Super Tuesday states.

In Ohio, Romney's campaign purchased about $1.5 million for television advertisements, and Restore Our Future spent $2.3 million. Santorum and Red, White and Blue, a super PAC that supports him, countered with about $1 million combined, according to information on file with the Federal Election Commission, a disadvantage of nearly four to one.

In Tennessee, where Romney did not purchase television time, Restore Our Future spent more than $1 million to help him. Santorum paid for a little over $225,000, and Winning our Future, a super PAC that backs Gingrich, nearly $470,000.

In Georgia, where Gingrich acknowledged he must win, the pro-Romney super PAC spent about $1.5 million in hopes of holding the former House speaker below 50 percent of the vote, the threshold needed to maximize his delegate take.

While the day boasted more primaries and caucuses than any other in 2012, it was a shadow of Super Tuesday in 2008, when there were 20 Republican contests.

There was another big difference, a trend away from winner-take-all contests to a system of allocating delegates in rough proportion to a candidate's share of the popular vote.

Sen. John McCain won eight states on Super Tuesday in 2008 and lost 12 to Romney and Mike Huckabee combined. But six of McCain's victories were winner-take-all primaries, allowing him to build an insurmountable delegate lead that all but sealed his nomination

Romney did best in Ohio metropolitan areas, as well as among voters worried about the economy and making sure the GOP nominated the best candidate to defeat President Barack Obama.

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters at his election night party in Boston, Tuesday, March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

By DAN SEWELL

CINCINNATI — Mitt Romney has outdueled Rick Santorum in Ohio, claiming the hotly contested, pivotal Super Tuesday state.

Romney did best in Ohio metropolitan areas, as well as among voters worried about the economy and making sure the GOP nominated the best candidate to defeat President Barack Obama.

The former Massachusetts governor had nearly 38 percent of the vote with 97 percent of precincts reporting unofficial returns. Santorum was sixth-tenths of a percentage point behind at 37.2 percent. Romney prevailed in another November swing state to bolster his front-runner status over the former Pennsylvania senator.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich was third, at 15 percent, in the state that lies between Romney's native Michigan and Santorum's home state. Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who largely bypassed Ohio, was running fourth at 9 percent.

Romney picked up at least 183 of the 419 Super Tuesday delegates at stake. Santorum gained at least 64, Gingrich 52 and Paul at least 15.

By DAVID ESPO | AP Special Correspondent

Associated PressLeft, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney addresses supporters at his Super Tuesday campaign rally in Boston. Right, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks to supporters at an election night party at Steubenville High School in Steubenville, Ohio.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney squeezed out a win in pivotal Ohio, captured four other states with ease and padded his delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination but was forced to share the Super Tuesday spotlight with a resurgent Rick Santorum.

On the busiest night of the campaign, Romney scored a home-state win in Massachusetts to go with primary victories in Vermont and in Virginia — where neither Santorum nor Newt Gingrich was on the ballot. He added the Idaho caucuses to his column.

Ohio was the big win, though, and the closest contest of all as the Republican rivals battled for the chance to face Democratic President Barack Obama in November.

Santorum countered crisply, winning primaries in Oklahoma and Tennessee and the North Dakota caucuses — raising fresh doubts about Romney's ability to corral the votes of conservatives in some of the most Republican states in the country.

Ohio was the marquee matchup, a second industrial-state showdown in as many weeks between Romney and Santorum. It drew the most campaigning and television advertisements of all 10 Super Tuesday contests and for good reason— no Republican has ever won the White House without carrying the state in the fall.

After trailing for much of the night, Romney forged ahead in a count that stretched past midnight. With votes tallied in 99 percent of the state's precincts, he led by about 12,000 out of 1.1 million cast.

Gingrich had a victory in his column, too — his first win in more than six weeks. The former House speaker triumphed at home in Georgia, but a barrage of attack ads by a super PAC supporting Romney helped hold him below 50 percent and forced him to share the delegates.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul pinned his hopes on Alaska as he scratched for his first victory of the campaign season.

Santorum waited until Oklahoma and Tennessee fell into his column before speaking to cheering supporters in Ohio. "This was a big night tonight," he said. "We have won in the West, the Midwest and the South, and we're ready to win across this country."

In all, there were primaries in Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, Massachusetts, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Caucuses in North Dakota, Idaho and Alaska rounded out the calendar.

Romney picked up at least 183 of the 419 Super Tuesday delegates at stake. Santorum gained at least 64, Gingrich 52 and Paul at least 15.

That gave the former Massachusetts governor 386, more than all his rivals combined, a total that included endorsements from members of the Republican National Committee who automatically attend the convention and can support any candidate they choose. Santorum had 156 delegates, Gingrich 85 and Paul 40. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., this summer.

The split of the states ensured that the most turbulent Republican presidential campaign in a generation would continue.

Already, the candidates were looking ahead to the next contests, Kansas and Wyoming caucuses on Saturday, followed by Alabama and Mississippi primaries on March 13.

Restore our Future, the super PAC that backs Romney, disclosed a near-$1 million investment for television ads in Illinois, the next big-state primary on the calendar, on March 20. The organization is already airing commercials in Mississippi and Alabama, as is a group that supports Gingrich, although at lower levels.

Ohio Republicans were a party divided, based not only on the popular vote but also on interviews with voters as they left their polling places.

Santorum outpolled Romney among Ohioans with incomes under $100,000, while Romney won among those with six-figure incomes and up. Romney won among working women, Santorum among women who do not.

Santorum won among self-described conservatives, while Romney outpointed his rival among those who said they are moderate or liberal.

Santorum was preferred by the half of the electorate that is born-again. Romney was the favorite among the half of the electorate that said it is not.

In interviews in all the primary states, Republicans said the economy was the top issue and an ability to defeat Obama was what mattered most as they made their Super Tuesday choices.

They also indicated nagging concerns about the candidate they supported, even in Massachusetts, There, one-third of all primary voters said they had reservations, and about three-quarters of those voted for Romney.

Massachusetts is a reliably Democratic state in most presidential elections, but in Ohio, 41 percent of primary voters said they, too, had reservations about the candidate they supported. No Republican has ever won the White House without capturing Ohio.

Gingrich's victory was his first since he captured the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21, and the former House speaker said it would propel him on yet another comeback in a race where he has faded badly over the past six weeks.

Obama, the man they hope to defeat in November, dismissed the almost-constant criticism of his foreign policy efforts and accused Republicans of "beating the drums of war" over Iran. "Those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. They're not commander in chief," he said. Unopposed for the Democratic nomination to a second term, he stepped into the Republican race with a Super Tuesday news conference at the White House, then attended a $35,800-a-ticket fundraiser a few blocks from the White House.

Ohio was the day's biggest prize in political significance, a heavily populated industrial state that tested Santorum's ability to challenge Romney in a traditional fall battleground. Georgia, Gingrich's home political field, outranked them all in the number of delegates at stake, with 76, a total that reflected a reliable Republican voting pattern as well as population.

Romney, the leader in the early delegate chase, flew to Massachusetts to vote and said he hoped for a good home-state win.

He also took issue with Obama, saying, "I think all of us are being pretty serious" about Iran and its possible attempt to develop nuclear weapons.

Gingrich effectively acknowledged he had scant Super Tuesday prospects outside Georgia, where he launched his political career nearly three decades ago. Instead, he was pointing to primaries next week in Alabama and Mississippi, and he told an audience, "With your help, by the end of next week we could really be in a totally new race."

The polls show the president's chances for re-election have improved in recent months, as the economy has strengthened, unemployment has slowly declined and Republicans have ripped into one another in the most tumultuous nominating campaign the party has endured since 1976.

The former Massachusetts governor campaigned into Super Tuesday on a winning streak. He captured the Washington state caucuses last Saturday, days after winning a little-contested primary in Arizona and a hard-fought one in Michigan. He won the Maine caucuses earlier in February.

The victories helped settle his campaign, which was staggered when Santorum won a pair of caucuses and a non-binding Missouri primary on Feb. 7.

Santorum and Gingrich have vied for months to emerge as the sole conservative alternative to Romney, and they battered him as a moderate who would lead the party to defeat in November.

But Romney, backed by a heavily financed super PAC, countered Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina primary with a comeback win in Florida. Last week, it was Santorum's turn to fall, as Romney eked out a win in Michigan after trailing by double digits in some polls 10 days before the primary.

Santorum's recent rise has translated into campaign receipts of $9 million in February, his aides announced last week.

Even so, Romney and Restore our Future, the super PAC supporting him, outspent the other candidates and their supporters on television in the key Super Tuesday states.

In Ohio, Romney's campaign purchased about $1.5 million for television advertisements, and Restore Our Future spent $2.3 million. Santorum and Red, White and Blue, a super PAC that supports him, countered with about $1 million combined, according to information on file with the Federal Election Commission, a disadvantage of nearly four to one.

In Tennessee, where Romney did not purchase television time, Restore Our Future spent more than $1 million to help him. Santorum paid for a little over $225,000, and Winning our Future, a super PAC that backs Gingrich, nearly $470,000.

In Georgia, where Gingrich acknowledged he must win, the pro-Romney super PAC spent about $1.5 million in hopes of holding the former House speaker below 50 percent of the vote, the threshold needed to maximize his delegate take.

While the day boasted more primaries and caucuses than any other in 2012, it was a shadow of Super Tuesday in 2008, when there were 20 Republican contests.

There was another big difference, a trend away from winner-take-all contests to a system of allocating delegates in rough proportion to a candidate's share of the popular vote.

Sen. John McCain won eight states on Super Tuesday in 2008 and lost 12 to Romney and Mike Huckabee combined. But six of McCain's victories were winner-take-all primaries, allowing him to build an insurmountable delegate lead that all but sealed his nomination

Springfield's Retirement Board is scheduled to o consider stripping the annual $45,347 pension of former Springfield patrolman Jeffrey Asher in the aftermath of his conviction on assault charges

Here are the most-read stories that appeared on MassLive.com yesterday. If you missed any of them, click on the links below to read them now.

1) Edwin Rojas, father of murder victim Jessica Rojas, released on his own recognizance after denying charges from courtroom melee [Buffy Spencer]

2) Months-long undercover investigation in Westfield yields arrest of at least 18 suspects on drug charges [George Graham]

3) Springfield Retirement Board to consider stripping $45,347 annual pension from convicted former patrolman Jeffrey Asher [Peter Goonan]

4) WNE poll reveals how voters view Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren [Robert Rizzuto]

5) OUI suspect Michael Geschwind released without bail after colliding with Southwick police cruiser and injuring officer [Conor Berry]

The most viewed item overall was the photo gallery, seen above, headlined, "Springfield courtroom brawl erupts in arraignment of Jose Santiago, accused in the murder of Jessica Rojas"