Romney Tightens GOP Hold as Rivals Hang On

Mitt Romney consolidated his hold in the GOP race, winning the Nevada caucuses with a solid lead on Saturday.

The win follows a 14-point victory in Florida last week, setting the scene for upcoming caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri on Tuesday, and primaries in Michigan and Arizona at the end of the month.

Romney took the lead early in the counting in Nevada, gaining 48 percent of the vote with 71 percent of the precincts counted.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gained 23 percent and Rep. Ron Paul gained 18 percent, while former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who had largely skipped Nevada, gained 11 percent of the vote.

CNN entrance polls suggest Republicans are starting to coalesce around Romney, with the former Massachusetts governor for the first time leading in nearly every voting group.

In a noticeable shift among the Republican base, Romney was the most popular candidate for supporters of the Tea Party, slightly above his nearest rival Newt Gingrich, with more than half those identifying as “very conservative” supporting him, according to the polls.

Of the 43 percent of people who said beating Obama was the most important candidate quality, 70 percent chose Mitt Romney.

Speaking to supporters in Las Vegas, Romney dwelt little on his rivals, instead focusing as he had done in Florida on President Obama and the economy.

“America needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy,” he said. “I do and I will. This president began his presidency by apologizing for America. He should now be apologizing to America.”

Romney now has three wins out of five contests behind him and is gaining in endorsements.

Real estate tycoon and reality TV star Donald Trump last week endorsed Romney, joining a multitude of elected Republican officials who have already declared their support.

Romney’s rivals, however, have vowed to continue, despite poor showings.

Following his loss in Florida, Newt Gingrich, an assured leader in the South Carolina primary, has suffered a further setback in Nevada, particularly as Romney showed increased support across voter groups.

The former House speaker remained upbeat despite the losses, with analysts predicting he will endeavor to hang on until Super Tuesday March 6. Over 10 states vote on that day, a number of them Southern states, which may deliver enough delegates to Gingrich to prevent Romney from reaching the necessary 1,144 delegates to win the nomination.

“We will continue the campaign all the way to Tampa,” Gingrich told reporters post the Nevada election, adding, “I’m not going to withdraw.”

Santorum and Paul
Rick Santorum is also maintaining his campaign, telling CNN Saturday night, “This race is a long, long way from being over. Eventually this race will come to us.”

In the lead up to Saturday’s caucus, Santorum spent little time in Nevada, focusing instead on Colorado and Minnesota caucuses.

Both states are reported to have high proportions of conservative evangelical voters that may work in Santorum’s favor, with Minnesota bordering Iowa where Santorum was declared the late winner.

Recent polls conducted by Public Policy polling have put Santorum behind Romney but ahead of Gingrich in both states.

Nevada’s third place finisher, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, said he is pleased with his campaign despite not having won a state to date.

“Of course you set [your target] for victory, but you have to live within the real world,” Paul said on ABC’s “This Week.” “But we have three or four caucus states that we believe our numbers are doing pretty good, and we have to wait and see and keep doing exactly what we’re doing.”

Paul continues to appeal to young voters and independents with his libertarian views, gaining 46 percent of the vote amongst independents and 41 percent among 17 to 25-year-olds, in the CNN entrance polls taken in Nevada.

“There is an intellectual revolution going on with the young people,” Paul told ABC. “It has not been translated into an absolute political change, but, believe me, there is an intellectual revolution going on and that has to come first before we see big political changes.”

• http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Kiernik/1525147023 Adam Kiernik

  RON PAUL AND THE BIGGEST IRONY OF OUR LIFETIME

  Why is a nation gifted with a world top class Constitution, based on democratic principles, getting the results of a bankrupt third world dictatorial welfare/warfare state? It’s not the Constitution that failed the people. It’s the people of America that failed the Constitution at all levels of society.

  The leaders of the country have certainly failed the people by catering to special interest groups to the point of being dominated in most every aspect of political life. That’s the reason why our financially dominated and carefully crafted election rules and procedures assure that only Presidents are chosen who will allow the wars to go on, as the country goes further into bankruptcy, while individual and civil rights are constantly lost along the way.

  Even the most important economic decisions are made by the same group of private bankers, often the very same individuals, which the government is not even allowed to audit or monitor (Federal Reserve), regardless of which establishment candidate from either party becomes President.

  A free press and mass media were given special privileges as well as important obligations to prevent America’s takeover by an elite establishment. Their actual news coverage was to be informative, balanced, and guided by democratic principles, especially when it comes to elections. Coverage was to be fair and basically limited to reporting the facts while letting the voters decide.

  The mass media in turn has made a mockery out of democratic and free elections during the last two Presidential campaigns when it came to their coverage of Ron Paul. During much of this time he was ignored, laughed at, ridiculed, marginalized, and/or declared “fringe” and “unelectable”  

  To any close political observer it is obvious that the mass media has completely abandoned its obligation to journalism and its role in a democracy by actively going out of its way to circumvent the campaign of someone truly challenging the elite establishment. The mass media grossly failed America as well.
  The last line of defense for preserving a democracy and the interests of the people are the people themselves and, perhaps most sadly of all, they have been conditioned to supporting the destructive elite establishment as well. 

  It is simply astonishing that a Christian nation which claims to honor God’s commandments supports establishment candidates who stand for rushing into pre-emptive wars built on deliberate lies and false slogans to create massive suffering, hatred, and terrorism, as a first resort.  

  It is simply astonishing that Tea Party members who came together to cut federal spending are voting for establishment candidates as opposed to Ron Paul who not only presents the only serious plan to carry this out but has been the only candidate who has consistently fought for such action to be taken during the past 20 years. It is simply astonishing that OWS, with one of its main positions being to “End the Fed,” fails to support the one candidate who brought this and many other issues on behalf of the people to light due to basically fighting alone for 20 years with basically no support during much of this time.

  The failure of the American people does not stem from evil but rather from perhaps the biggest irony of our lifetime: The establishment, with its supportive mass media that serves more as a cheerleader than a source of information, has been able to convince most Americans that the one candidate who speaks the documented truth, follows the good advice of our forefathers which served us so well over many decades, and supports the U.S. Constitution, is “fringe,” “crazy,” and “unelectable.”

  I still hope and pray that enough people from every segment of the population will come together in time to the save the day and elect Ron Paul as our next president. The alternative is to accept endless wars, bankruptcy, full scale Depression, and the self-destruction of a once great nation.

• Jackson Baer

  Ron Paul has a legitimate chance to win Minnesota and should finish with respectable numbers in Colorado & Missouri. If he doesn’t win the republican nomination, which I admit is unlikely, I truly hope he runs 3rd party. Some people say that will make Obama a shoe in but even if that is true, there’s really no difference between him and Romney anyways. I’ll vote on principle and with a clear conscience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=262l6tbHSlU  RON PAUL 2012.http://www.whatthehellbook.com/the-book/