Romney says he’s ‘delighted’ by Hawaii, American Samoa wins

Mitt Romney released a statement Wednesday heralding his wins in Hawaii and American Samoa, as the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign worked to emphasize an overall delegate win — and not tough third-place finishes in Mississippi and Alabama.

“I am delighted to have won the Hawaii and American Samoa caucuses,” Romney said. “From one end of America to the other, the voters have spoken. And what they have said is that they want to send a conservative businessman to the White House.”

The GOP front-runner went on to champion his delegate wins from the Pacific contests, with his campaign noting that Romney should take away the most delegates from the four contests Tuesday night.

“With these two contests, I have gained at least 18 additional delegates on my quest for the Republican Party presidential nomination,” Romney said. “It’s time for Republicans to join together and focus on our central challenge, which is defeating Barack Obama at the polls this coming November.”

Romney’s delegate count now stands at 498, according to a projection from CNN. Rick Santorum trails with 239 delegates, with Newt Gingrich in third at 139 and Ron Paul with 69.

With all the votes counted, Romney won Hawaii with 45 percent of the vote. Santorum won 25 percent, Paul won 18 percent and Gingrich won 11 percent. American Samoa’s delegates were assigned via caucus, where 70 Republicans agreed to commit all nine delegates to the GOP front-runner.

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