Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney waves at his election night party in Novi, Mich., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. CARLOS OSORIO\/AP PHOTO<\/p><\/div>\n

The slim victory margin in the state he was born in — he led rival Rick Santorum by 41 percent to 37 percent in the latter stages of the count — will do little to dispel lingering doubts about his bid to oust President Barack Obama in November.<\/p>\n

Santorum, who has surged into the lead in national polls, could even still end up winning a larger share of the 30 delegates in the state, which awards them proportionately, arguing that he also had a win of sorts.<\/p>\n

Romney was born and grew up in Michigan, where his father was governor, so a loss would have been a huge embarrassment for a supposed frontrunner who has had trouble connecting with core Republican voters.<\/p>\n

He easily won the other primary battle of the night, in Arizona, which had always been considered a stronghold for him as a significant percentage of the population there share his Mormon faith.<\/p>\n

Having clinched both states, he claims the crucial momentum going into “Super Tuesday” — on March 6 — when 10 states vote on a pivotal day in the race to see who takes on Obama in the general election on November 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republican Mitt Romney won a crucial presidential primary in his native Michigan Tuesday, avoiding an upset that could have severely dented his White House hopes, TV projections showed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":153751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,530,43],"tags":[38293,1780,23923,69],"byline":[],"source":[206065],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n