Romney Wins Nevada GOP Caucuses

Jan 19, 02:20 PM

In early returns, Romney had 46 percent of the vote. Arizona Sen. John McCain was second at 15 percent, followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the only other Republican to make a major effort here, on McCain's heels at 14 percent.

The former Massachusetts governor virtually gave up on today's other major battle, the South Carolina GOP primary, where polls have found him well behind his rivals.

Instead, Romney, a practicing Mormon, concentrated on a state with the fourth-highest Mormon population in the nation _ an estimated 7.4 percent _ and one where his son Josh, who lives in Utah, could visit frequently to campaign. Mormons accounted for an estimated 20 percent of Saturday's caucus vote.

Romney's victory fits his national strategy of accumulating delegates to the Republican National Convention rather than looking for momentum-building victories. Nevada has 34 delegates; South Carolina has 24.

However, Romney's triumph, his third after this month's Michigan primary and Wyoming caucus, also illustrates a potential weakness of his candidacy. Until recently, he signaled that he very much wanted to win South Carolina, and he blanketed the Palmetto State with TV ads and made frequent trips there.

But his Jan. 15 victory in Michigan, where his father was a prominent auto executive and a popular governor, seemed to provide Romney little momentum in the South. A McClatchy-MSNBC poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, taken Monday through Wednesday, found him a distant third behind McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and barely ahead of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

So Romney headed west on Thursday and ran ads in Nevada highlighting his strong opposition to illegal immigration and gay marriage. He also won the endorsements of the Reno Gazette-Journal and the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Democrats are also caucusing in Nevada, and the showdown between Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is considered an important battle, the first time since the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary Democrats have cast ballots.

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(c) 2008, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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