Romney takes early lead in Nevada caucuses

Mitt Romney is leading in early returns out of the Nevada Republican presidential caucuses, as he shoots for the first back-to-back win in the 2012 race.

January 11, 2012: Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at The Hall at Senate’s End, in Columbia, S.C.

With 5 percent of precincts reporting, Romney leads with 37 percent. Ron Paul has 29 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 20 percent and Rick Santorum with 13 percent.

Nevada is friendly territory for Romney, having overwhelmingly supported him in 2008.

Entrance polls Saturday evening showed Romney crushing the competition among those who value beating President Obama in November as the most important quality in a GOP candidate.

The polls also showed Romney leading the field by double digits among evangelical Christian caucus-goers. Romney was backed by 48 percent of evangelicals, compared with 27 percent for Gingrich.

Despite early reports of low turnout in Nevada, state GOP Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian said she thinks turnout will exceed the roughly 44,000 who came out in 2008.

Nevada offers a modest delegate haul, with 28 convention delegates at stake. Romney led the field going into the race with 87, followed by Gingrich with 26, Santorum with 14 and Paul with four. It takes 1,144 delegates to win.

Gingrich, meanwhile, has kept his gaze trained on upcoming contests, the next of which will be held in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri -- and later in Maine, Michigan and Arizona.

Gingrich told Fox News he hopes to be "even with or slightly ahead" of Romney in the delegate count by early April.

For the near term, Romney has a healthy lead in delegates and could build on that advantage Saturday.

Romney, who is Mormon, is expected to benefit from the state's Mormon population, which made up a quarter of the GOP electorate in 2008 and almost uniformly supported him in that election.

Leaving nothing to chance, Romney supporters were calling caucus-goers late Friday asking for their vote.

"We are showing that organization and hard work and commitment make a real difference," Romney said, as he visited a Las Vegas office hosting a marathon call session.

Romney won Tuesday's Florida primary, in what was seen as a setback for Gingrich after the former House speaker won South Carolina. He also won New Hampshire, but lost Iowa to Santorum after initially being declared the winner there.

Santorum has kept a feisty attitude on the campaign trail, targeting both Romney and Gingrich.

During a speech in Missouri Friday, Santorum said: "We need someone who is more multidimensional than Governor Romney and not as multidimensional in every idea in the world as Newt Gingrich."

Santorum has criticized Gingrich for his ambitious, and costly, space exploration plans -- such as his call for a moon base. And he's taken a few shots at Romney for saying earlier in the week he's not concerned about the "very poor" -- a remark Romney has conceded was a mistake.

Santorum campaigned Saturday in Colorado. Paul, meanwhile, campaigned in Minnesota, after having put a lot of work into the Nevada caucus contest.

Posted in: Ask me,Hot Trends