Romney scores narrow Super Tuesday win in pivotal Ohio Win Mcnamee / Getty Images Supporters of Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney celebrate during a Super Tuesday event at the Westin Copley Place March 6, 2012 in Boston. ET - Mitt Romney scored a narrow victory over Rick Santorum in the Ohio presidential primary following a hard-fought campaign that had been perceived as a turning point in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination. NBC News projected he was the apparent winner in that state. Both Romney and Santorum won several Super Tuesday caucuses and primaries, but none more prized than Romney's victory in Ohio. The former Massachusetts governor was able to ride a wave of momentum out of Michigan, where he also closely battled Santorum, to erase the former Pennsylvania senator's lead in Ohio over the past week. The trajectory of the Republican campaign hinged in large part on Ohio, and now Romney may claim the imprimatur associated with winning a state that's considered an essential step toward victory in the general election. But a margin of just a few thousand votes separated Romney and Santorum, representing a kind of moral victory for Santorum given the way the Romney campaign and a supportive super PAC heavily outspent him in Ohio. Mitt Romney tells a Super Tuesday crowd of supporters that the country can't afford four more years of Barack Obama with no one to answer to. Romney and Santorum notched additional victories across the country in the caucuses and primaries they had been expected to win. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the primary in Georgia, the state from which he had served as a representative in Congress, but trailed in the remainder of states playing host to nominating contests on Tuesday. But neither Santorum nor Gingrich, buoyed by their own wins, seemed any closer by the end of the night to ending their campaigns, reflecting the lingering doubts by Romney among conservatives, which were underscored in exit polling. Check out the full Super Tuesday results here We're going to win a few, we're going to lose a few. But as it looks right now, we're going to get at least a couple gold medals and a whole passel full of silver medals," Santorum said in Steubenville, Ohio, before the state's results were announced. We have won in the West and the Midwest and the South, and we're ready to win across this country. Today's contests -- 11 states, in total, allotted delegates on Tuesday -- served as an inflection point in a primary defined in large part by each of the Republican candidates' struggle to gain a foothold within the party. The states with contests Tuesday were Georgia, Virginia, Vermont, North Dakota, Ohio, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Idaho, Alaska and Wyoming. More delegates were up for grabs on this Super Tuesday than had been previously allocated to the remaining GOP candidates after two months of voting, according to NBC News projections. NBC projected Romney as the winner in Vermont, Massachusetts, Idaho and Virginia (where only he and Texas Rep. Ron Paul appeared on the ballot). There are three states under our belt, and counting. We're going to get more by the time this night is over," Romney told supporters in Boston before firmly declaring: "I'm going to get this nomination." Romney was expected to emerge as the night's winner in terms of delegate haul, a point which he emphasized in his speech. "Tonight we're doing some counting," he said. We're counting the delegates for the convention and that looks good, and we're counting down the days to the convention, and that looks better. But exit polls showed Romney continued to struggle with the most conservative voters, the core of the Republican Party, in states like Ohio and Tennessee -- arguably the two most competitive contests held Tuesday. NBC's David Gregory and Savannah Guthrie discuss the latest Super Tuesday results in the GOP presidential nominations which hinges on a close race in Ohio. But Romney performed well among voters who consider the economy their top issue, or who rated a candidate's ability to beat President Barack Obama in November -- two key selling points in the former Massachusetts governor's campaign. Some Republicans had hoped that Super Tuesday would help propel the Republican race into a new stage, one that draws toward a conclusion given the growing negative cloud surrounding the GOP race. Gingrich decried that negativity in his election night speech, one in which he vowed to press forward. I want you to know that, in the morning, we are going on to Alabama. We're going on to Mississippi. We're going on to Kansas," he said to cheers. And that's just this week. After victories in Oklahoma and Tennessee, Rick Santorum expresses optimism as he addresses supporters at a rally in Ohio, saying that he and his family are "making a sacrifice for a very big goal," replacing President Barack Obama. A strong performance by Romney might have moved more Republicans who had harbored doubts about the ex-governor off the fence, and finally create some sustained momentum for Romney. Still, momentum in the primary has come in fits and starts, threatening to make the Republican campaign into a prolonged battle over delegates. "They are decimating each other ... independent voters are fleeing him," Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday evening on NBC in regard to Romney and the GOP campaign. I feel good about how things have evolved in the last six months.