Mitt Romney Blowout

There was no hiccup, no protest vote, no stumble for Mitt Romney in five northeastern states on Tuesday night. The results were simply an old fashioned southern butt whipping of his remaining Republican competitors.

Romney won every single county in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Romney won every delegate at stake in Connecticut, New York and Delaware.

In Rhode Island, Romney won 12 delegates to four for Ron Paul.

The numbers were still sketchy as of late in the night in Pennsylvania, where the voters directly elect delegates, who aren't listed by candidate on the ballot.

Even without those numbers, Romney took a huge stride again towards the GOP nomination, just as he did three weeks ago when he won Maryland, D.C. and Wisconsin.

For days, I have been on the receiving end of a slew of messages from Ron Paul supporters, castigating me for not reporting the large crowds that Paul was drawing in the April 24 states, charging that the news media was ignoring a major surge in the polls.

Once again, it didn't turn out that way.

Paul's campaign has been much more effective in caucus states where his organization has been able to outwit the party hierarchy in the multiple rounds of delegate selection in states like Missouri and Minnesota.

But in primary states, Paul's results have been a dud, and they were again on Tuesday.

Compared though to Newt Gingrich, Paul had a great night, while the former Speaker raised even more eyebrows when he again said he was in the GOP race "all the way" to the convention in Tampa.

Gingrich finished second in Delaware - behind by 30 points - for his best showing. He was last in Pennsylvania, barely beat out Rick Santorum for third place in Rhode Island, and also was third in Connecticut and New York.