Romney wins Indiana, N.C., W.V. primaries

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at Lansing Community College in Lansing, Mich., Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney has won the Indiana, North Carolina and West Virginia presidential primaries.

The trio is certain to push Romney closer to the 1,144 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination, handing him 100 or so delegates of the 288 he still needs.

None of the outcomes is a surprise. Romney faces no serious challenge to the Republican nomination.

Even the candidate himself is essentially ignoring Tuesday's primaries. Romney has been spending the day campaigning in Michigan, where he castigated President Barack Obama as an "old-school liberal" whose policies would take the country backward.