Mitt Romney wins Maine Republican presidential caucuses

GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney got his camp back on road by winning the Maine Republican presidential caucuses. The success will assist him in regaining momentum following his losses at 3 nomination contests the previous week. Besides, his win held off a strong challenge from Ron Paul.

Romney took 39% of the 95% votes counted while Paul took 36%. Results from some caucuses had to be delayed due to snow fall. Paul was followed by Santorum who took 18% votes. Gingrich took 6%.

Mitt Romney also won a poll of conservative activists present at the yearly Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. The dual wins are expected to boost Romney’s campaign.

"I am the only candidate in the race who has never served a day in our broken federal government. The voters of Maine have sent a clear message that it is past time to send an outsider to the White House, a conservative with a lifetime of experience in the private sector, who can uproot Washington's culture of taxing and spending and borrowing and endless bureaucracy,” Romney said in a statement.

Ron Paul went on to declare the Maine result a tie. However, he later on accepted that Romney had got back on track as a frontrunner. Besides, he gave indications that he expected him to be the final winner.

"He is out in front … He picked up a little steam today," Paul said.

It should be noted that Romney is highly expected to win Arizona, given the big Mormon population of Arizona and the support of John McCain. On the other hand, Sarah Palin did not directly endorse any of the GOP contenders on the final day of the CPAC meeting, but indicated opposition to Romney. She said the nominee "must be someone who can instinctively turn right to constitutional conservative principles."

Meanwhile reports suggest that Paul's strategy is to set up an alliance of delegates to take to the GOP gathering in Tampa, Florida. He also said he is satisfied with large number of delegates he anticipated to take from Maine.

“Romney has shown, once again, that he can mouth the words conservatives use, but he has no gut-level emotional connection with the conservative movement and its ideas and policies,” said Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, who has endorsed Santorum.