Tweet
Big victory for Romney in Nevada
Republican front-runner Mitt Romney maintainded his winning streak with yet another resounding victory in Nevada caucuses on Saturday over his main rival, former Speaker Newt Gingrich.
With 70 per cent of the precincts reporting, Romney had secured 48 per cent of the votes, with his three rivals trailing in the far distance: Gingrich (23 per cent), Congressman Ron Paul (19 per cent) and former Senator Rick Santorum (11 per cent).
“This is not the first time you’ve given me your vote of confidence. And this time, I’m gonna take it to the White House,” a beaming Romney told his cheering supporters after the victory. In a change of tactic, Romney kept firing salvoes at President Obama for now and ignoring his Republican rivals for the time being.
Gingrich for his part vowed to stay in the race. Despite the massive back-to-back losses in Florida last week and in Nevada now, he made it clear that he would continue his fight all the way.
“I am not going to withdraw,” Gingrich said defiantly, accusing the Romney camp of spreading rumours about his impending retirement from the race.
As he put it, “Our commitment is to seek to find a series of victories which by the end of the Texas primary (April 3) will leave us about at parity with governor Romney and from that point forward to see if we can’t actually win the nomination.”
“I am a candidate for President of the United States, I will be a candidate for president of the United States, we will go to Tampa,” Gingrich said referring to the venue of the Republican convention in end of August.
Injecting a religious element, Gingrich explained away Romney’s latest big win by describing Nevada as a “very heavily Mormon state”. Romney belongs to the Mormon faith, something which sections within the Republican Party continue to hold out against his candidacy.
Romney, in his victory speech, blamed Obama’s economic polices for America’s continuing economic mess, notably in a state like Nevada which had unemployment running at as high as 12. 6 per cent.
“America needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy, and I do and I will,” he told his supporters at a Las Vegas casino hotel.
Attacking Obama on several fronts, Romney thundered: “President Obama seems to believe America’s role as leader in the world is a thing of the past. I believe the 21st century will be and must be an American century.”
Nevada has 28 delegate votes, who will be proportionally distributed among the candidates based on their polling percentage. This is unlike Florida, where Romney grabbed all the 50 delegates under the state’s winner-take-all policy. Thus, Gingrich, Paul and Santorum will all get a smaller share of the Nevada delegates compared to Romney’s. The Republican race now shifts to caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota, to be held on Tuesday. Missouri will also hold its caucuses on Tuesday, but it is deemed to be a non-binding primary. These will be followed by Maine on Saturday.
Republican front-runner Mitt Romney maintainded his winning streak with yet another resounding victory in Nevada caucuses on Saturday over his main rival, former Speaker Newt Gingrich.
With 70 per cent of the precincts reporting, Romney had secured 48 per cent of the votes, with his three rivals trailing in the far distance: Gingrich (23 per cent), Congressman Ron Paul (19 per cent) and former Senator Rick Santorum (11 per cent).
“This is not the first time you’ve given me your vote of confidence. And this time, I’m gonna take it to the White House,” a beaming Romney told his cheering supporters after the victory. In a change of tactic, Romney kept firing salvoes at President Obama for now and ignoring his Republican rivals for the time being.
Gingrich for his part vowed to stay in the race. Despite the massive back-to-back losses in Florida last week and in Nevada now, he made it clear that he would continue his fight all the way.
“I am not going to withdraw,” Gingrich said defiantly, accusing the Romney camp of spreading rumours about his impending retirement from the race.
As he put it, “Our commitment is to seek to find a series of victories which by the end of the Texas primary (April 3) will leave us about at parity with governor Romney and from that point forward to see if we can’t actually win the nomination.”
“I am a candidate for President of the United States, I will be a candidate for president of the United States, we will go to Tampa,” Gingrich said referring to the venue of the Republican convention in end of August.
Injecting a religious element, Gingrich explained away Romney’s latest big win by describing Nevada as a “very heavily Mormon state”. Romney belongs to the Mormon faith, something which sections within the Republican Party continue to hold out against his candidacy.
Romney, in his victory speech, blamed Obama’s economic polices for America’s continuing economic mess, notably in a state like Nevada which had unemployment running at as high as 12. 6 per cent.
“America needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy, and I do and I will,” he told his supporters at a Las Vegas casino hotel.
Attacking Obama on several fronts, Romney thundered: “President Obama seems to believe America’s role as leader in the world is a thing of the past. I believe the 21st century will be and must be an American century.”
Nevada has 28 delegate votes, who will be proportionally distributed among the candidates based on their polling percentage. This is unlike Florida, where Romney grabbed all the 50 delegates under the state’s winner-take-all policy. Thus, Gingrich, Paul and Santorum will all get a smaller share of the Nevada delegates compared to Romney’s. The Republican race now shifts to caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota, to be held on Tuesday. Missouri will also hold its caucuses on Tuesday, but it is deemed to be a non-binding primary. These will be followed by Maine on Saturday.
