Clinton, Romney win Nevada caucuses
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The victory marked a second-straight campaign triumph for the former first lady, who scored a New Hampshire primary upset last week and is locked in an historic, increasingly tense struggle with Obama.
Clinton was gaining roughly half the vote in a three-way Democratic race, with Obama at about 45 percent and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards placing a distant third.
Romney said Republicans had cast their votes for change ‘ and that he was the man to provide it.
‘With a career spent turning around businesses, creating jobs and imposing fiscal discipline, I am ready to get my hands on Washington and turn it inside out,’ Romney said in a statement issued while he flew to Florida, site of the Jan. 29 primary.
The Republican caucuses drew relatively little candidate interest. Not so the party’s South Carolina primary, the second half of a campaign doubleheader, and a duel between Sen. John McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Romney was gaining more than half the vote in Nevada, leaving McCain and Texas Rep. Ron Paul in a close race for a distant second place.
Obama had pinned his hopes on an outpouring of support from the Culinary Workers Union, which endorsed him last week. But it appeared that turnout was lighter than expected at nine caucuses established along the Las Vegas Strip for the union membership.
The Nevada Democratic contest was intense, despite the absence of negative TV commercials.
Interviews with Democratic caucus-goers indicated that Clinton fashioned her victory by winning about half the votes cast by whites, and two-thirds support from Hispanics, many members of the union that endorsed Obama. He won about 80 percent of the black vote.
Romney’s western victory marked a second straight success for the former governor, coming quickly after a first-place finish in the Michigan primary revived a faltering campaign.
He learned of his victory when his wife Ann announced it on the public address system of his chartered jet. “Keep ’em coming. Keep ’em coming,” he said.
Romney had campaigned for months to win early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, and his candidacy was in trouble when he lost both. He retooled his appeal to the voters in the days leading to the Michigan primary, though, focusing on the economy and trumpeting his experience as a business leader.
En route to Florida, he presented reporters with the outlines of an ambitious economic stimulus plan, $233 billion in all, that is larger than anything that President Bush or any of his rivals has supported.