Romney wins N.C. primary

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 8 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney won the North Carolina Republican presidential primary Tuesday, moving closer to winning his party's nomination, returns showed.

CNN projected the former Massachusetts governor would take North Carolina, which had 55 delegates up for grabs. With 63 percent of the state's precincts counted, Romney had 66 percent of the vote to 11 percent for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and 10 percent for former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who left the race last month.

Romney went into the day's primaries in North Carolina, Indiana and West Virginia with 865 of the 1,144 delegates he needs for the GOP nomination, RealClearPolitics.com said. Paul, the only Republican rival still in the contest, had 93.