Mitt Romney wins Maine caucus; Ron Paul scores a close second

Former Massachusetts Governor, and Presidential hopeful, Mitt RomneyMitt Romney won the Maine Republican caucus and the straw poll on Saturday snatching his front runner status back after losing three consecutive states of Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado in a week to former Pennsylvanian Senator, Rick SantorumRick Santorum. Ron PaulRon Paul finished a closed second, scoring just 3% less votes.

Though all of the four states were not particularly relevant to the delegate count, but the poll results did place Romney in the headlines and Romney is hopeful that the Maine caucus will give his campaign just the kind of boost it required to win the next major primaries in Arizona and Michigan on 28th Feb and then the Super Tuesday when 10 other states will be holding elections.

In Maine, Romney won with 39 percent of the votes and Ron Paul 36 percent. Though, Ron Paul was hoping for his first win since the nominating contest began last month, his yet another loss has not put his spirits down. As the Maine caucus results were announced, Paul told his supports, “We are not going away”, he said, "We have the message America needs at this particular time."

Neither Rick Santorum nor Newt GingrichNewt Gingrich actively campaigned in Maine receiving only 18 and 6 percent of the votes, respectively. In his post victory speech, Romney said that Maine voters 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.”

Besides one Public Policy Polling survey report, that shows a Santorum surge in Arizona and Michigan, Romney is holding clear leads in both states. PPP president, Dean Debnam said that Gingrich decision not to drop out of the race has been playing a pivotal role in Romney’s continues victories, since his drop out would have meant 58 percent of voters moving to Santorum’s side while just 22 percent to Romney.

“It’s been an amazingly fast ascent to first place for Rick Santorum,” said Dean Debnam. “It’s important to keep in mind though that fewer than half of his voters are firmly committed to him. When he comes under attack in the coming days his lead could evaporate just as quickly as it was created.”