Narrow win for Romney in Maine’s GOP caucuses

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Updated: March 13, 2012 10:41AM

PORTLAND, Maine — Mitt Romney narrowly won Maine’s Republican caucuses, state party officials announced Saturday.

That gave the former Massa­chusetts governor’s campaign a much-needed boost after three losses — in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri — on Tuesday. But he won just a plurality of the Maine vote, suggesting he still has work to do to unite GOP voters behind his candidacy.

At a gathering in Portland, state Republican Chairman Charlie Webster announced Romney had won with 2,190 votes, or 39 percent, compared with 1,996 — about 36 percent — for Ron 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. Other candidates shared 61 votes.

The totals reflected about 84 percent of the state’s precincts.

Webster insisted that any caucus results that come in after Saturday wouldn’t be counted no matter how close the vote. “Some caucuses decided not to participate in this poll and will caucus after this announcement,” Webster said. “Their results will not be factored in.”

Romney’s win, combined with his victory in the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington hours earlier, helped slow an embarrassing skid that began Tuesday when he lost to Santorum in three states.

The twin triumphs dampened the perception — for now — that conservatives were unwilling to support Romney.

But questions about Romney’s durability as the party’s presumed front-runner persist. Sixty-one percent of Maine voters selected a candidate besides Romney in a state practically in his back yard.

And Romney’s showing was down considerably from 2008, when he won 51 percent of the vote.

“I thank the voters of Maine for their support,” Romney said in a statement late Saturday.

“I’m committed to turning around America,” he said. “And I’m heartened to have the support of so many good people in this great state.”

AP