As Nevada counts, Republican candidates press on
Comments (...)LAS VEGAS (MCT) — In one of the more colorful weekends of the Republican presidential campaign, Nevada caucus results remained incomplete Sunday while officials recounted ballots in the state’s most populous county; “Saturday Night Live” mocked Newt Gingrich as “Moon President;” Ron Paul supporters crashed a special nighttime voting site for people who had observed the Sabbath; and Rick Santorum toured the factory that knits his signature sweater vests.
Mitt Romney had a big win, garnering about 50 percent of the vote, with 89 percent of precincts reporting. He earned more than 90 percent of the Mormon vote, which was not a surprise. But he also fared better here than he has elsewhere among those who consider themselves “very conservative,” including “tea party” voters, according to entrance polling conducted for The Associated Press and TV networks.
That has led many to conclude that Republicans, casting around so long for the “anti-Romney” candidate, seem to be coalescing around the notion that the former Massachusetts governor may be best suited after all to take the fight to President Barack Obama in November.
Romney had no public appearances on Sunday. A spokesman said he planned to spend the day in Las Vegas, and would root for the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Romney’s trio of rivals vowed they aren’t going away.
“Our goal is to get to Super Tuesday where we’re in a much more favorable territory,” Gingrich said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The former House speaker, who was running a distant second with about 21 percent of the vote, was referring to the six nominating contests that take place on March 6. One of those primaries is in Georgia, Gingrich’s home state. He has also said he hopes to close Romney’s widening delegate lead by the Texas primary in April.
Gingrich bashed Romney’s record as governor, saying, “He was pro-abortion, he was pro-gun control, he was pro-tax increase, he ended up third from the bottom in job creation.”
The Romney campaign responded by emailing negative reviews of Gingrich’s late-night news conference Saturday, in which he attacked Romney repeatedly and dismissed the idea that he would drop out of the race as Romney’s “greatest fantasy.” The Romney missive said Gingrich was “flailing.”
Gingrich, who has advocated for a re-energized space program with a potential colony on the moon, was lampooned on “Saturday Night Live” in a sketch that featured him as president of the moon, having been driven from Earth by Obama’s socialism.
Sunday, Gingrich slammed the Obama administration for a recent decision to require church-affiliated employers who provide workers with health insurance to offer contraception and sterilization coverage, regardless of religious principles. On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Gingrich described the new rule as “the most outrageous assault on religious liberty in American history.”
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has also used the issue to stir support among religious voters angry at the new rule. Santorum, who did not spend much time in Nevada, finished fourth here, with about 10 percent of the vote.
He has been concentrating on Colorado and Minnesota, where he is expected to do better in voting contests Tuesday. Colorado is home to a strong bloc of conservative evangelical voters, while Minnesota borders Iowa, which provided Santorum his only win so far. On Sunday in Minnesota, he visited Bemidji Woolen Mills, where his sweater vests are made, and Cool Threads, the company that embroiders his logo on the vests, which his campaign sells to raise money.
In a tacit acknowledgement of Santorum’s potential to do well on Tuesday, Romney’s campaign attacked him in an email Sunday as a defender of congressional earmarks.
Paul, meanwhile, was in third with about 19 percent, but held out hope he could surpass Gingrich in the final tally. Some of his supporters decided to attend the “sundown caucus,” creating something of a circus when they were asked to sign statements vowing they were there for religious reasons. The event had been designed for observant Jews and Seventh-day Adventists.
Ironically, before the voting began, the Nevada GOP had boasted that it was working with Google and Twitter to release caucus results in real time. But vote counting in Clark County — home of Las Vegas — was delayed, first by the upheaval at the nighttime caucus, and then, apparently, by a decision to recount all ballots in the county.
“It is just layer upon layer of issues that we are trying to work through,” acting GOP chairman James Smack told the AP. “We are not dragging our feet on it. We just want to make sure we get it right.”
Nevada officials are undoubtedly trying to avoid the kind of counting problems that befell Iowa a month ago. Hours after Iowa’s caucuses ended on Jan. 3, the Republican Party of Iowa announced that Romney had won the first-in-the-nation contest by eight votes — only to reverse itself Jan. 19, when it said Santorum had won by 34 votes. The state’s Republican chairman, Matthew Strawn, stepped down last week.
Sunday, the Nevada GOP took a beating in the press for its delayed results. Wags contributed to a Twitter topic, “things faster than NV GOP,” with tweets including “a boat to China,” “filming an episode of Gumby” and “the evolution of man.”
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(Times staff writers Michael J. Mishak and Ashley Powers in Las Vegas contributed to this report.)
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