Mitt Romney appeared to be tightening his grasp on the Republican presidential nomination last night (Monday) as polls showed him gaining ground across the board ahead of "Super Tuesday".
After a bruising month in which the relatively moderate Mr Romney has come under sustained pressure from the religious conservative Rick Santorum, some estimates showed that he could win a slim majority of delegates.
"The news is good for Mitt Romney," said Public Policy Polling (PPP), which found that Mr Romney's candidacy was finally starting to resonate more broadly with the Republican base after weeks of failing to energise the party grass roots.
"A week ago Santorum had a huge lead in Tennessee, a decent sized one in Ohio, and seemed like he had a good chance for second in Georgia. Now he's barely holding on in Tennessee, ever so slightly behind in Ohio, and seems doomed for third in Georgia," PPP said in a statement.
Ten states - Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia - will hold a mixture of primaries and caucuses worth 437 delegates to the Republican Convention. The nominee needs to secure 1,144 to win outright. Polls showed Mr Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, was a favourite to win in Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont and Idaho while Mr Santorum looked to win narrow victories in Tennessee and Oklahoma.
Ohio, a general election swing state that is a key test of a candidate's electability, remained too close to call.
Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House who surged in January, was well clear in the polls in his home state of Georgia, while the fourth candidate, Ron Paul concentrated his efforts in Alaska, where the small caucus electorate increased his chances of winning.
Senior republicans are hoping that a strong performance by Mr Romney will draw a line under a contest that has forced all candidates to pander to the party's Right-wing base, "scaring the hell" out of independent voters that decide general elections, according to one Republican strategist.
"The word you'd have to use at this stage is 'corrosive'," said the Republican pollster Bill McInturff after an NBC News poll showed the primary fight was steadily eroding Mr Romney's standing among the independent voters.
Hopes that Mr Santorum and Mr Gingrich might step aside looked optimistic, with both promising to fight on whatever the results.
Campaigning in Dayton, Ohio, Mr Santorum promised to press on "all the way to the convention", arguing that Mr Romney's financial advantage had masked his weaknesses as an elitist, establishment candidate who did not connect with "real" America.
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