With 68 percent of towns reporting results, Mitt Romney had 52 percent of the vote in the Maine caucuses as of Sunday night.

Arizona Sen. John McCain had just 21 percent.

With 18 delegates to the Republican National Convention at stake, Romney won them all and pulled within five delegates of McCain overall.

Yet McCain is running away with the GOP race.

The problem? Mitt’s being shellacked in national polls, many key figures are lining up behind McCain and Super Tuesday is a de facto national primary.

With Maine in his column, Mitt Romney has actually won four states so far (Wyoming, Nevada and Michigan being the others) to three for McCain (New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida) and one for Mike Huckabee (Iowa).

The problem? Almost all of the national media attention has been focused on
New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Iowa.

What about me!? Mitt Romney won his fourth state, but few noticed.

While the former governor has reason to gripe that his wins aren’t being given enough attention, the real problem with his candidacy is Mitt himself.

The unfounded questions and criticisms surrounding his Mormon faith pale in comparison to the perception among some voters - just enough, apparently, to keep him from winning a nomination ripe for the taking - that for all his good qualities, Romney is but an empty suit, a shameless opportunist.

The two Romneys simply can’t convince enough Republican primary voters that he is a better choice than John McCain, who is getting by on integrity, heroism and popularity among independents (all well-earned).

“Conservative voices, both from radio and from publications, are saying ‘You know what, we’ve got to get behind Mitt Romney. We can’t afford John McCain as the nominee of our party,’” Romney told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer yesterday. “That kind of groundswell is what led me to win in Maine.”

Plenty of them are - but more aren’t. The united GOP Mitt sought to galvanize either doesn’t exist, or he’s not the one to unite it.