Romney wins big in Puerto Rico primary

Romney had about 83 percent of the vote, according to Puerto Rico's electoral commission.

By REUTERS
Mitt Romney waves 390 (photo credit: REUTERS/Mark Blinch)
Mitt Romney waves 390
(photo credit: REUTERS/Mark Blinch)
SAN JUAN - US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was sweeping to victory in his party's primary in Puerto Rico on Sunday, bolstering his position as front-runner in the race to determine who will face Democratic President Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 election.
With 20 percent of the ballots counted, Romney had about 83 percent of the vote, according to Puerto Rico's electoral commission. Rick Santorum was in second place with just over 8 percent. Newt Gingrich was third with about 2 percent.
With more than a majority of the vote, Romney looked likely to win all 20 of the delegates up for grabs in a contest that focused largely on an upcoming referendum to decide whether Puerto Ricans want to pursue statehood or remain a self-governing US commonwealth.
Santorum, a former US senator from Pennsylvania, had posed a potential threat to Romney in Puerto Rico, since his Catholicism and social conservatism were seen resonating among some voters in the predominantly Roman Catholic territory.
But Romney's campaign was endorsed by just about every prominent Republican on the Spanish-speaking island, and Santorum angered many Puerto Ricans with comments last week that they needed to make English their primary language if they wanted to pursue statehood.
"You can't impose English on people. My sense is that he (Santorum) was very poorly advised or he would not have said what he said," Ana Lydia Porrata-Doria, 69, who voted for Romney, told Reuters.
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Puerto Ricans, who recognize both English and Spanish as their official languages, will vote in November in a statehood referendum.
With Puerto Rico's unemployment rate running at 15.1 percent, many voters said they supported Romney because they believed he was best positioned among the Republican candidates to deliver on pledges about job creation on the island.
Romney may have suffered at least one self-inflicted wound during a visit to Puerto Rico late last week, when he reiterated his opposition to the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court on grounds he did not support her judicial philosophy.
Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno, a Romney supporter, is also a fan of Sotomayor. Her 2009 appointment to the high court was a source of pride to Puerto Ricans from across the political spectrum.
Puerto Rico has about 3.8 million people. Its population can vote in partisan primaries but not in presidential elections. Puerto Ricans on the mainland have the same voting rights as other US citizens.
Congress would have to give approval for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. Although US lawmakers have considered various proposals to make English the official US language, none has ever passed.
Romney's win on Sunday was part of a carefully planned "island strategy," which included wins in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and US Virgin Islands, to blunt the impact of losses to Santorum in some recent contests.
Romney has a big lead in support from party delegates, whose backing is needed to win the nomination. But he faces a growing challenge from Santorum in Illinois, which holds its primary contest on Tuesday, in the months-long fight to win the 1,144 delegates needed to seal the Republican nomination.