Voting is under way in the western U.S. state of Nevada's Republican
presidential caucuses, with members of the party choosing the candidate
they want to see take on President Barack Obama in November.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney appears headed for a huge
victory in Saturday's caucuses after a commanding win in the Florida
primary.
Opinion polls showed Romney with a wide lead over former House of
Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, with former senator Rick Santorum
of Pennsylvania and Texas Congressman Ron Paul trailing far behind.
Romney is expected to get a boost in Nevada from fellow followers of the
Mormon religion. He won Nevada the first time he ran for the Republican
nomination in 2008. Then, Mormons made up about a quarter of Nevada
Republican caucus voters, and 95 percent of them backed Romney.
Nevada is number five of eight presidential nominating contests taking
place ahead of so-called "Super Tuesday" on March 6, when 10 states will
hold their contests. Nevada is the first western state to hold a
contest.
In
addition to Florida, Romney also won the New Hampshire primary, while
Gingrich won in South Carolina and Santorum had the most votes in the
first contest in Iowa.
Romney and Santorum were campaigning in Colorado Saturday, while Paul
focused on Minnesota. Both states hold their presidential caucuses on
Tuesday.
Under Florida state Republican rules, Romney picked up all 50 of the
delegates Florida is allocated at the national convention. To win the
presidential nomination, a candidate needs 1,144 of 2,286 delegate votes
at the convention.
More than 200 delegates will be decided over the few weeks, while 437
delegates are up for grabs next month on "Super Tuesday."
