Romney wins primaries in Nebraska, Oregon

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters after speaking at a campaign stop, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa.

/ AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Updated: May 16, 10:41 a.m. ET

(CBS News) Mitt Romney on Tuesday won GOP presidential primaries in Oregon and Nebraska, putting the former Massachusetts governor ever closer toward officially clinching the Republican presidential nomination.

In Nebraska, with nearly all of the votes counted, Romney led by an overwhelming 71 percent support. Rick Santorum, who ended his presidential bid last month, earned 14 percent support.

In Oregon, with 62 percent of the votes in, Romney earned 73 percent. Ron Paul came in second place with 12 percent.

Despite his two victories Tuesday, Romney was not be able to earn the number of delegates needed to make his nomination official. Oregon had 25 delegates at stake in its primary, while Nebraska, which will be sending 32 delegates to the national convention, held a non-binding primary.

In upset victory, Fischer wins Nebraska Senate primary

Heading into the evening's two contests, Romney had 963 total delegates, 181 delegates short of the necessary 1,144, according to CBS News estimates.

Following Tuesday night's contests, he now has 980 total delegates, according to CBS News estimates.

Still, with no remaining competitors actively campaigning against him, the former Massachusetts governor is widely viewed as the presumptive nominee.

On Monday, Texas congressman Ron Paul announced that he will no longer actively campaign in the GOP presidential primaries, although he says he won't formally suspend his campaign. The libertarian candidate's organization will continue to accumulate delegates to send to the Republican National Convention. Paul has 98 delegates, according to CBS News estimates.

Complete Oregon results
Complete Nebraska results

[LiveAndLocalRadioNJ]

RON PAUL HAS ALREADY WON 6 STATES. THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN NUMBER 7. THIS STORY IS NOTHING BUT MORE LIES.

No sweat with Nebraska;
Ron Paul already has Plurality in 6 states, and up to additional 5 more states in contest.
http://thereal2012delegatecount.com
1.) COLORADO Ron Paul WINS! 18 to 16
2.) IOWA - Ron Paul WINS! 23 to 2
3.) LOUISIANA - Ron Paul WINS! 27 to 19
4.) MAINE - Ron Paul WINS! 21 -3
5.) MINNESOTA - Ron Paul WINS! 32 to 8
6.) NEVADA - Ron Paul WINS! 22 - 3
Ron Paul is on his way to Tampa!
We have TAKEN the Podium;
Ron Paul "IS" a Nominee for President of the United States of America! Under RNC Rules.
Go Ron Paul!

[Zann-Zel]

Can it really be called a "Win" when there's only one person in the race?

[askagain]

Another poll shows Romney ahead of Obama. I'll stop quoting the polls if the reverse happens. How convenient.

[baileycccc]

Yawn..............................................

[dudley58]

He still doesn't have the delegates needed for the nomination and no one is running against him....that pretty much says it all.....

[saturn05]

Romney still doesn't have the delegates needed and he hasn't even really had any competition and this is their choice for President? Our country will go down the tube if Romney became our President. we already had 8 years of GOP destruction, and people want this again. Be afraid, be very afraid if Romney wins the Presidency. There goes women rights, homosexual rights and next will be your rights.

[askagain]

Talk about hysterics. If anything, Romney might bring some sanity to Washington. Too bad we can't agree.

[Ourdoc1]

Good thing he won since no one is running against him anymore lmao...

[Scimajor]

Forgive me but the American political process quite often eludes me. Why continue with the primaries when nobody else is actually running against him? I thought everyone else conceded victory to him. What's the point?

[cubscout09]

We Oregonians also voted on Federal and State legislators, County and City officials, ya-da, ya-da. Have you ever seen a ballot???

[jimbom121]

There are other elections on the ballot, but also, the primaries are set up well in advance, so the election still happens.

[tmittelstaed]

Obama also won the primaries in Oregon and Nebraska and under similar circumstances - running against candidates that are non-starters. So why is any of this news?

[cubscout09]

For one, Ron Paul voters seem to be indomitable. They may not vote for Romney in November. That has got to hurt.

[Jaylah54]

Kem, Ron Paul has ended his campaign. You must be one of those people that watches only ... what ... the black helicopters circling your lawn?

[libertytous]

RP did not end his camoaign, I live in Nebraska, my daughter is a delegate in California and people here like Ron Paul. We will write him in when we can. Keep an eye on the delegate count.

[Jaylah54]

People may still like him. They may well write him in. He has quite a few delegates from past primaries. He may well get more. But if you listen or read the news, he has ended his active campaign in primary elections. He, himself, said so.

Like the true fiscal conservative he is, he realizes that he cannot win enough delegates to the Republican national convention to clinch the nomination that way, so he is not spending more millions campaigning.

Since you obviously don't get out much, here's a link for you (from a good GOP news source: The Wall Street Journal):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304371504577404393356548490.html?mod=googlenews_wsj