Romney politely encourages rivals to fold

WASHINGTON — His del­e­gate lead grow­ing, Mitt Rom­ney gen­tly nudged his Repub­li­can oppo­nents toward the side­lines on Wednes­day and said he was on track to wrap up the pres­i­den­tial nom­i­na­tion before the party con­ven­tion next sum­mer. Rick San­to­rum and Newt Gin­grich paid him no mind, vow­ing to fight on in a cam­paign marked by per­sis­tent ide­o­log­i­cal divisions.