LOS ANGELES—"You pays your money and you takes your choice." Mark Twain used the phrase in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," but it probably has its origin in Cockney English.

 The New York paper hedged its bet with a front-page "News Analysis" by Jim Rutenberg under the headline: "Amid Victory, Echo of Doubt."

 Said Rutenberg:. "After five caucuses, six primaries, 20 debates and $30 million in television commercials, Mitt Romney leaves here facing the same stubborn question: Can a onetime Northeastern governor with a history of ideological migration win the Republican presidential nomination in the era of the tea party, with all its demands of political purity and passion?"