LAS VEGAS -- Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has declared victory in Nevada's caucuses. He thanked Nevada voters for their confidence in him and vowed to take it all the way to the White House.
CBS network news at 7 p.m. projected Romney the winner of the caucus based on the strength of those returns. A top Republican party official said it could take all night to get final results.
Results released by the Nevada Republican Party showed that Romney received 47.6 percent of the caucus vote based on 70.4 percent of the 1,835 precincts that have reported.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, with 22.6 percent, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, with 18.6 percent, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, with 11.1 percent, were far behind. The early returns came from rural counties. Romney won 11 of those counties and was leading in a 12th. He finished second in the three counties he lost, losing by only one vote in Esmeralda County and by two in Mineral County.
The totals reflect not only Romney's strong backing from fellow Mormons and his solid campaign organization in this state, but a repudiation of his closest competitor Gingrich, who draws heavy support from Tea Party followers. Romney entered the Nevada race with the delegate lead and is expected to have a strong February. Eureka County was the first to officially report its results, with Romney getting 34.3 percent to 30.3 percent for Gingrich, 18.2 percent for Paul and 17.2 percent for Santorum.
Romney also scored victories in Lincoln County, with 83.6 percent of the vote, White Pine County (63.9 percent), Elko County (56.9 percent), Churchill County (47.3 percent), Pershing County (46.4 percent), Humboldt County (45.6 percent), Douglas County (41.3 percent), Carson City County (37.6 percent) and Lyon County (37.2 percent). He also narrowly won Storey County with 28.2 percent, followed by Paul with 27.7 percent and Gingrich with 25.5 percent.
But Paul won Nye County with 45.6 percent of the vote to 29.2 percent for Romney, and also captured Esmeralda County with 33.9 percent to 32.2 percent for Romney. Gingrich edged Romney in Mineral County by a margin of 37.9 percent to 35.9 percent. Paul's victory in Esmeralda was by a mere vote, and Gingrich won Mineral by two votes. Gingrich also was leading in initial returns from Washoe County, where Reno is located.
A large crowd gathers Saturday Night at Red Rock Resort to greet GOP caucus winner Mitt Romney.
