Confident Romney predicts Wisconsin victory



FITCHBURG, Wis. (AP) -- A confident Mitt Romney is predicting victory ahead of Tuesday's presidential primary in Wisconsin.

"It feels better and better. The support for my campaign is growing stronger and stronger," he told supporters Saturday afternoon at a call center for Republican Gov. Scott Walker. "This was an uphill battle for me if you looked back three or four weeks ago. And now we're looking like we're going to win this thing on Tuesday."

Locked in an intra-party nomination fight that has spanned three months, Romney said that a Wisconsin win -- on top of last week's victory in Illinois -- would help seal his fate as the Republican nominee in the general election against President Barack Obama.

"If I can get that boost also from Wisconsin, I think we'll be on a path that'll get me the nomination well before the convention," he said with his newest high-profile supporter, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., at his side.

The comments came as GOP rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich campaigned elsewhere in Wisconsin, the premier contest Tuesday, which also features primaries in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

"If you do your job and I do mine I might be able to pick up all three of those, and that would be obviously a big statement," Romney said.