White House Hopeful Romney Gets Boost In Maine
US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney receives a sorely needed boost in the rocky race for the Republican presidential nomination, winning a non-binding contest in Maine and a straw poll among conservatives after a trio of unnerving losses.
The former Massachusetts governor edged out Texas congressmanRon Paul by fewer than 200 votes in the Maine caucuses Saturday, and outpolled former senator Rick Santorum in the straw poll at theConservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Though largely symbolic, those wins spelled relief for a candidate whose frontrunner status was again put in question Tuesday when Santorum scored upset victories in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota.
Despite Romney's wins, however, the Republican race to pick a standard bearer to run against Obama in November remained unsettled.
The state's delegates to the Republican National Convention will be decided later, but with the next contests in the race taking place February 28 in Arizona and Michigan the results will likely reverberate for weeks.
Republican strategist Ford O'Connell told Fox News that Romney could not afford to lose four in a row going into Michigan and Arizona, with Santorum on the rise and the Super Tuesday primaries looming.
Romney Looks To Right Campaign With Maine Win
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney looked to right his faltering campaign with a victory in Maine on Saturday, but he faced a race to the wire against long-shot Texas congressman Ron Paul.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, on Friday announced an 11th-hour trip to nearby Maine in a last-ditch push for support, after a trio of stinging defeats dented the sense of inevitability surrounding his nomination bid.
Paul is currently in fourth place nationwide, though his feisty campaign has gained traction among young voters, and a victory in Maine would provide a substantial boost.
But experts dismiss his chances of winning the nomination or the national election.
"Ron Paul will not win the nomination," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell told Fox News.
"This is all about Mitt Romney. He can't lose four in a row going into Michigan and Arizona, which are must-wins because Super Tuesday follows that, and Rick Santorum is on the rise and he (Romney) needs to stop that."
Should Romney lose to Paul, a libertarian-leaning champion of small government and reduced foreign aid and military action, it would deal a worrying setback for the frontrunner in his own backyard.
