Romney Wins Illinois

And it wasn't particularly close:

Front-runner Mitt Romney won the Illinois primary with ease Tuesday night, trumping Rick Santorum in yet another industrial state showdown and padding his already-formidable delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney triumphed after benefitting from a crushing advantage in the television advertising wars, and as his chief rival struggled to overcome self-imposed political wounds in the marathon race to pick an opponent to Democratic President Barack Obama.

Returns from 38 percent of the state's precincts showed Romney gaining 52 percent of the vote compared to 319 percent for Santorum, 9 percent for Ron Paul and 7 percent for a fading Newt Gingrich.

Newt, Ron...go home. Rick...consider it. Romney's going to be the nominee and it's time to accept it and figure out how to beat Obama.