TUESDAY’S DELEGATES UP FOR GRABS:

— 42: Wisconsin

— 37: Maryland

— 16: District of Columbia; whoever wins the primary gets all 16 delegates.

AP DELEGATE TRACKER:

Delegate count heading into Tuesday’s primaries.

— 572: Romney, exactly half the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination.

— 273: Santorum

— 135: Gingrich

— 50: Paul

WISCONSIN FACTS:

— The GOP presidential primary has been largely overshadowed by the recall election of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, scheduled for June 5.

— Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to win the state in a presidential election, in 1984.

— Known as America’s Dairyland, Wisconsin ranks first nationally in cheese production and second in the production of milk. It has more than 1.2 million dairy cows, about one for every five residents.

FLOOR FIGHT: Santorum says a floor fight at the GOP convention over who should be the nominee would be “energizing” and a “fascinating display of open democracy” that would encourage more Republicans to participate. The former Pennsylvania senator has pledged to stay in the race, arguing that Romney has yet to win the needed delegates and isn’t the strongest Republican to put up against President Barack Obama. Santorum, for one, thinks settling the matter on the convention floor will boost his chances of becoming the nominee. Other Republicans think such a scenario would only ensure Obama’s re-election.

RUNNING FOR VP: Republicans eyeing a possible invitation to be Romney’s running mate would do well to brush up on American political history. It’s been nearly 100 years since a losing vice presidential nominee was also a politician skilled and lucky enough to eventually become president. The year was 1920 and his name was Franklin D. Roosevelt. So one takeaway for this year’s much-talked-about group of potential vice presidential candidates is this: If you hope to be president one day, accepting the No. 2 spot is a pretty good deal if the ticket wins — and a possible pathway to political obscurity if it loses. Of the dozen presidents since FDR, just five were former vice presidents. George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon were elected but the others — Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson and Gerald Ford — became president because of death or resignation.

MARCH MADNESS: Two underdogs for the GOP nomination are comparing themselves to the University of Kansas basketball team, which was down at halftime but rallied to defeat Ohio State and claim a spot in Monday’s NCAA Tournament final against Kentucky. Newt Gingrich compared himself to the team during a campaign appearance in Maryland. But Rick Santorum beat him to center court, saying Sunday that to drop out of the race now would be like Kansas giving up after the first half. Santorum said the race “isn’t even at halftime yet.” But Kansas wasn’t down by half, as Santorum is against Romney. Let’s see what collegiate sports analogies the candidates make come Tuesday.

ROMNEY-RELIGION: Romney sidestepped a tough question about his Mormon faith while campaigning in Wisconsin. A Ron Paul supporter asked whether he agreed with a passage from the Book of Mormon that describes a cursing of people with a “skin of blackness.” Romney’s staff took the microphone away from the 28-year-old Green Bay man before he could read the passage. Romney said didn’t want to talk about religion. But he returned to the subject later during the event, talking about his decade of service as a Mormon pastor in Boston. Romney said the experience taught him that most people have personal problems. He says he’s running for president because he wants to lighten those burdens.

OBAMA: Obama countered a charge from Romney that he’s been weak in projecting American power abroad, but he skipped a chance to blast Romney and the rest of the GOP presidential field. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden alongside leaders of Mexico and Canada, Obama played the statesman’s role. He said he’s cutting his GOP critics “some slack” because they’re still having a primary. But Obama did take exception to Romney’s weekend remark that the president doesn’t believe in “American exceptionalism,” a reference to the unique role of the world’s only superpower. Obama reminded listeners that the 2004 Democratic convention speech that thrust him into the national spotlight was all about “American exceptionalism.”

WHERE THEY’LL BE TUESDAY:

— Gingrich: North Carolina

— Paul: California

— Romney: Wisconsin

— Santorum: Pennsylvania

IN HIS WORDS

— “We’re going to have a strong showing, maybe even sneak in and have an upset.” — Santorum, on his showing in Wisconsin.

— “Gov. Romney doesn’t have it locked down. And we have no obligation to back off and concede anything until he does.” — Gingrich.

— “I will cut folks some slack for now, because they’re still trying to get their nomination.” — Obama, on Romney’s criticism of him.

— “I’m still passionately in love with that woman.” — Romney, referring to his wife, Ann.

RYAN FOR ROMNEY: It’s been a good week of endorsements for Romney. The latest GOP figure to endorse him this week is Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee. Ryan announced his endorsement days before Wisconsin Republicans vote in their state’s primary, saying he’s convinced that Romney “has the skills, the tenacity and the courage” to lead the party in the race against Obama. Ryan’s public show of support follows endorsements from former President George H.W. Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Utah Sen. Mike Lee. Ryan campaigned with Romney in Wisconsin on Friday. They’ve scheduled additional joint appearances in the state for Saturday.

GAY MARRIAGE JAM: President Barack Obama could find himself in an election-year bind on gay marriage, pressured by supporters who want him to come out for same-sex marriage but fearful of the political perils of igniting an explosive social issue during the campaign. Gay rights advocates and people close to the president suggest it’s no longer a question of if, but rather a question of when Obama will have his own coming out. He has said his views on gay marriage are “evolving.”

ROMNEY: Romney once again defended his personal wealth, which has come under renewed attack from Democrats trying to portray him as out of touch with most people. Romney is a former businessman worth up to $250 million who would be among the richest U.S. presidents, if elected. He told a campaign audience in Wisconsin that continued attacks on success would have one outcome — “a lot less success.” Obama’s re-election campaign is pushing Romney to release many years of income tax returns dating to his career at the Boston-based private equity firm that helped him become wealthy. Romney’s opponents for the GOP nomination, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, have also talked about his difficulty “connecting” and have pressed to see a more complete set of his tax returns.

SANTORUM: Santorum says Republicans won’t win the presidency by nominating a candidate who jokes about firing people. Santorum was referring to Romney’s joke this week in Wisconsin about his father George, the former chairman of American Motors, who closed a factory in Michigan and moved production to Wisconsin. Santorum suggested the quip is more evidence that Romney doesn’t understand working people’s struggles.

GINGRICH-THEN AND NOW:

Gingrich’s comment that Romney “is clearly the front-runner” represented a turnaround from his comments after Romney’s third-place finishes in the nominating contests in Alabama and Mississippi on March 13.

— Then: “If you’re the front-runner and you keep coming in third, you’re not much of a front-runner.” — March 13, following Romney’s third-place finishes in primaries in Alabama and Mississippi.

— Now: “I think Mitt Romney is clearly the front-runner.” — Friday, to Milwaukee radio station WTMJ.

BY THE NUMBERS:

How the race for the Republican presidential nomination stands among likely Republican primary voters in Wisconsin, according to the latest NBC News/Marist Poll, conducted this week.

— 40 percent, Romney

— 33 percent, Santorum

— 11 percent, Ron Paul

— 8 percent, New Gingrich

— 7 percent, undecided.

BARACK’S BUCKS:

Obama spoke at four campaign events, two in Burlington, Vt., and two in Portland, Maine. They were his final fundraisers before Saturday’s monthly and quarterly campaign fundraising deadline. He raised $45 million in February.

— $7,500: Starting ticket price for fundraising luncheon with about 100 supporters at the Sheraton Burlington.

— $44: Student ticket price for University of Vermont event with about 4,500 supporters.

— $100: General admission for university event.

— $44: Student ticket price for Southern Maine Community College event with about 1,800 supporters.

— $5,000: Starting ticket price for fundraising dinner at Portland Museum of Art with about 130 supporters.

WHERE THEY’LL BE SATURDAY:

— Gingrich: Wisconsin

— Romney: Wisconsin

— Santorum: Wisconsin

IN THEIR WORDS:

— “I loved cars and I was very tempted to stay in Michigan and go into the car business as he had, but I knew I would always wonder if any success I had was due to my father.” — Romney.

— “We need someone who can talk and relate to folks battling in this economy … not someone talking about being a CEO of a company and making jokes about firing people.” — Santorum.

— “Everybody needs to understand that whichever one of the three of us ends up being nominated, the others would support.” — Gingrich.

— “My determination is undiminished. My confidence in the core decency of the American people is undiminished. I believe we’re on the right track.” — Obama.

PRESIDENT 41: Former President George H.W. Bush is making it official Thursday and offering Romney his formal endorsement. The 41st president has had encouraging things to say about Romney throughout the campaign but had withheld his official backing. The Bush family has known Romney for years and the former president’s wife, Barbara, and their son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, both have endorsed Romney. So it seemed inevitable that the elder Bush would lend his support, too. Bush and Romney have scheduled a joint appearance Thursday afternoon at Bush’s office in Houston.

GINGRICH: Newt Gingrich’s campaign is getting a trim, again. But despite letting go a third of his staff and curtailing his campaign appearances, Gingrich says he will stay in the GOP race until front-runner Mitt Romney has the support he needs to become the nominee. Low on money, Gingrich’s new strategy calls for him to spend less time campaigning and more time trying to persuade delegates to the party’s national convention to back him. His campaign is also expected to begin emphasizing cheaper, digital outreach — in particular YouTube, Twitter and other social media. Gingrich told a Washington, D.C., radio station that he owes it to his supporters to continue to represent their views, and that Romney has to earn the nomination.

ROMNEY’S PERSONAL SIDE: Expect to see a softer, gentler version of Romney in the coming weeks. Though his advisers reject the notion of a makeover or major shift in the campaign, it is typical for candidates to roll themselves out again in an effort to appeal to a broader swath of the electorate. The campaign is discussing how to present a more complete picture of Romney, from having him sit for TV interviews flanked by his five sons and 16 grandchildren to having his wife, Ann, appear on daytime talk or cooking shows. Ann Romney is likely to play a big role in introducing her husband to a wider audience. She has been a near constant companion on the campaign trail and aides say her mere presence softens his sometimes rough edges.

SANTORUM’S FRUGAL SIDE: Campaigning in Wisconsin, Rick Santorum suggested the state’s primary should be decided in 10 frames. He spoke at South Lanes Bowling in La Crosse as he stood in bowling shoes for the third time in four days. Yet he wasn’t eager to pay for everyone’s outing. After a buffet lunch of pizza with a college Republican group, a waitress came around to let the co-eds know they still had a bill to pay. How come? Santorum’s campaign had only paid for the candidate’s meal. — Contribution by Associated Press writer Philip Elliott.

BY THE NUMBERS:

A national CNN/ORC poll of registered voters finds Obama with a wide lead over Romney and Santorum. The poll, conducted March 24-25, has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

— Obama 54 percent, Romney 43 percent.

— Obama 55 percent, Santorum 42 percent.

— Obama approval rating among all Americans: 51 percent, practically unchanged from a CNN/ORC poll in February.

BY THE NUMBERS II:

More than three-fourths of adults, or 77 percent, say rising gasoline prices are straining their family budgets, according to a national McClatchy-Marist Poll. The survey of 1,080 adults was conducted March 20-22 and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

—37 percent say they’ve experienced a great deal of strain.

—40 percent say they’ve felt a moderate pinch at the pump.

—12 percent say the higher costs have not had much of a strain on their family finances.

—10 percent report no financial strain at all.

BY THE NUMBERS III:

A Quinnipiac University poll shows Obama ahead of Romney and Santorum in two key states, Florida and Ohio, with Pennsylvania a toss-up in an Obama-Romney match. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.

—Florida: Obama 49, Romney 42; Obama 50, Santorum 37.

—Ohio: Obama 47, Romney 41; Obama 47, Santorum 40.

—Pennsylvania: Obama 45, Romney 42; Obama 48, Santorum 41.

OVERHEARD:

— “What happened to the Eighth Amendment? You really expect us to go through 2,700 pages?” — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, likening a reading of the administration’s health care law to the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

— “Everybody in the establishment is chanting that Santorum and I should quit. Romney has to earn this. It’s not going to be given to him.” — Gingrich.

— “It’s possible, but it’s a long shot.” — Santorum, on odds of Republicans winning control of the Senate in November.

SANTORUM’S ARGUMENT: As the justices entertained arguments inside, Rick Santorum showed up outside the high court to argue his own case: that he — not front-runner Mitt Romney — is the best Republican candidate to challenge Obama in the fall, particularly over the issue of health care. Santorum says Romney is essentially disqualified from becoming the GOP standard-bearer because he enacted a similar health care law in Massachusetts when he was governor, including an identical requirement that all residents buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

OBAMA’S VISITORS: Obama is using access to one of America’s most famous homes to reward his most generous financial supporters. An Associated Press review has found that more than 60 of his biggest campaign donors have made repeat visits to the White House for meetings with top advisers, holiday parties or state dinners. The invitations, which are a legal and established practice of presidents, came despite Obama’s past criticism of Washington’s pay-for-access culture. The AP’s review compared more than 470 of Obama’s most important financial supporters against logs of 2 million visitors to the White House since mid-2009. It found that at least 250 of Obama’s major fundraisers and donors were granted access for dinners or meetings with senior advisers. And this month, more than 30 top fundraisers attended an elaborate state dinner in a massive tent on the South Lawn.

NEWT’S PLAN FOR WISCONSIN: Gingrich’s plan for winning the April 3 primary in Wisconsin rests, in part, on his wife, Callista. He sent her back to her native state — she was born in Whitehall, near the border with Minnesota — for a weeklong, solo campaign swing. Her schedule includes at least nine stops through Thursday, including visits to at least four elementary schools, speeches to a local Chamber of Commerce and a college Republican group, and a hospital visit. She’ll also play host at a “Cocktails with Callista” event, and read her children’s book, “Sweet Land of Liberty,” at a Catholic grade school. Gingrich trails Romney and Santorum, but he insists he will stay in the race until what could be the bitter end.

ROMNEY’S MONEY: Feeling secure with his standing in the GOP race, Romney is taking more time off from active campaigning this week to focus on restocking his campaign war chest to compete against Santorum in the contests to come. Romney was in California on Monday, and while there planned to hold at least five separate fundraisers over two days with deep-pocketed donors, including Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman and former California Gov. Pete Wilson. He’ll also show up on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno on Tuesday, his first appearance there since 2010.

PRIMARY LULL: The GOP race entered a brief hiatus after Louisiana’s primary, the final contest for March. The next round won’t take place until April 3, when Maryland and the District of Columbia hold primaries. Santorum is not on the D.C. ballot. Those two contests will be followed by a big day of voting on April 24 that includes contests in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Santorum’s home state of Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

AP DELEGATE TRACKER:

Romney may have lost big in Louisiana over the weekend but his resounding defeat by Rick Santorum did little to alter the standings in the race for delegates to the Republican National Convention in late August. Santorum won most of Louisiana’s delegates, but Romney picked up some, too, and still maintains a more than 2-to-1 advantage over the former Pennsylvania senator. It takes 1,144 delegates to become the party’s nominee for president. The latest totals after Louisiana:

— Mitt Romney: 568 (gained five delegates in Louisiana)

— Rick Santorum: 273 (picked up 10 delegates in Louisiana)

— Newt Gingrich: 135

— Ron Paul: 50

WHERE THEY’LL BE TUESDAY:

— Gingrich: Maryland.

— Paul: Not campaigning.

— Romney: California.

— Santorum: Wisconsin.

— Obama: South Korea.

IN THEIR WORDS:

— “If you really want Obamacare repealed, there’s only one person who can make that happen.” — Santorum, talking about himself.

— “This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.” — Obama, to outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, on the issue of missile defense.

— “President Obama signaled that he’s going to cave to Russia on missile defense, but the American people have a right to know where else he plans to be ‘flexible’ in a second term.” — Romney.

— “There’s no obligation to concede it to him. If he can win it, more power to him. If he doesn’t win it, then June and July and August become very interesting months.” — Gingrich, on staying in the race no matter what.

OUT NEWT, OUT: A super PAC that supports Santorum in the Republican presidential race says it’s time for Newt Gingrich to drop out. But Gingrich says he isn’t going anywhere. Stuart Roy, an adviser for the Red, White and Blue Fund, told The Associated Press that Gingrich is making it harder for conservative voters to settle on a conservative alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney. Roy noted that Gingrich won only his home state of Georgia on Super Tuesday. Santorum won three. Gingrich says he would have dropped out had he lost Georgia. But he won, and so the race for No. 2 goes on.

DOCOBAMA: Fact checkers: Sharpen your pencils! President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is preparing to release a brief documentary next week about his term in office. Campaign manager Jim Messina says it will “put into perspective the enormous challenges that the nation faced when the president took office and the strides we’ve made together.” The documentary was directed by Davis Guggenheim, the man behind the Academy Award-winning “An Inconvenient Truth,” about Al Gore and his global-warming campaign.

OBAMA’S BODY MAN: In losing his ever-present body man Reggie Love, Obama may have gained a valuable campaign surrogate. The former Duke University basketball player stars in a brief campaign video urging fellow African Americans to vote for Obama in November. “From cutting taxes to passing health care to supporting minority-owned businesses, the president has always had our back,” says Love, who left the White House last year to focus on completing his master’s degree in business administration. “Please visit AfricanAmericans.BarackObama.com and say ‘You’re with him.’ I’d appreciate it and I know he would, too.” Love had worked for Obama since 2006.

GENDER POLITICS: Republicans and Democrats are battling for the women’s vote. President Barack Obama’s Democratic allies say the GOP has launched a “war against women” on contraception and other issues. Republican women, led by Ann Romney, the wife of the GOP front-runner, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are fighting back, saying it’s the economy and jobs that women care about. Why all the attention? More than 90 years after gaining the right to vote, the majority of those who cast ballots in presidential election years are women. Obama won this group by 13 points over John McCain in 2008. Republicans are betting women will evaluate Obama’s stewardship of the economy and find him lacking. But the GOP has helped revive social issues like contraception that many thought were settled long ago.

WHERE THEY’LL BE ON THURSDAY:

— Gingrich: Mississippi

— Paul: Day off

— Romney: Mississippi

— Santorum: Alabama

— Obama: At White House

DELEGATE TRACKER

Totals after Super Tuesday voting. Twenty-six delegates from Super Tuesday have yet to be allocated. It takes 1,144 delegates to secure the Republican nomination for president.

— Romney: 419

— Santorum: 178

— Gingrich: 107

— Paul: 47

IN THEIR WORDS:

— “We are still bogged down shooting at each other and the president is looking presidential.” — Former New York Gov. George Pataki, arguing that it’s time for the party to close ranks around Romney.

— “What won’t they resort to to try to bully their way through this race? If the governor now thinks he’s now ordained by God to win, then let’s just have it out.” — Santorum, responding to a Romney comment that it would take an act of God for his rivals to amass a competitive number of delegates.

— “We think that will get done before the convention, but one thing I can tell you for sure is there’s not going to be some brokered convention where some new person comes in and becomes the nominee. It’s going to be one of the four people that are still running.” — Romney, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

— “If I thought he was a slam dunk to beat Romney and to beat Obama I would really consider getting out. I don’t.” — Gingrich.