Romney wins Maine caucuses by slim margin

Updated 8m ago

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Mitt Romney eked out a narrow win in Maine's Republican caucuses, state party officials announced Saturday, providing his campaign a much-needed boost after three straight losses earlier this week. But the former Massachusetts governor's margin of victory over rival Ron Paul was so slim it all but guaranteed scrutiny of the party's decision not to count the results of caucuses scheduled later in February.

At a state party gathering in Portland, state Republican Chairman Charlie Webster announced Romney had won with 2,190 votes compared to 1,996 for Paul, the only other candidate to aggressively compete in the state. Rick Santorum received 989 votes and Newt Gingrich won 349, but neither actively campaigned there.

Webster said any caucus results that come in after Saturday wouldn't be counted no matter how close the vote turned out to be.

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In the statement, Romney said that Maine voters sent a clear message that it is past time to send an outsider to the White House. And he cast himself as a conservative with a lifetime of private sector experience, who — in his words — "can uproot Washington's culture of taxing and spending and borrowing and endless bureaucracy."

The former Massachusetts governor won at least eight delegates, with six delegates left to be allocated, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. Paul won at least seven. Santorum and Gingrich were shut out.

Romney leads the overall race for delegates, with 120. Santorum has 72, Gingrich has 32 and Paul has 16. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination.

Maine's caucuses began Feb. 4 and continued throughout the week. But the results announced Saturday accounted for just 83% of all precincts in the state. Several communities elected to hold their caucuses at a later date.

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Read all On Politics posts Caucuses in Washington County scheduled Saturday were postponed until Feb. 18 because of a major snowstorm that blanketed the region. Earlier, the state party's Executive Director Michael Quatrano said county officials were told the results would not count toward the total.

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