Romney poised to win another state today

Saturday, February 04, 2012

LAS VEGAS, USA (AP) — Republican front-runner Mitt Romney seemed poised to pick up another state in the race to challenge President Barack Obama this fall, as candidates made a last push yesterday before the caucuses in Nevada this weekend.

While Romney narrows his focus on Obama and the economy — by far the most important election issue this year — the president got welcome news yesterday, as the Labour Department said the country’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 per cent from 8.5 per cent in December, the lowest in nearly three years.

Lower unemployment is a positive sign for Obama’s hopes for a second term. Still, he’s likely to face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any postwar president.

“There are still far too many Americans who need a job... but the economy is growing stronger. The recovery is speeding up. And we need to do everything in our power to keep it going,” Obama said yesterday.

In remarks later yesterday, Romney said about 24 million Americans are still looking for work. “We’re the strongest economy in the world and people have suffered enough, I think unnecessarily,” he said.

Romney, a Mormon with close ties to church leaders, is expected to carry an overwhelming majority of votes today from Nevada members of the church. Roughly seven per cent of Nevada’s population is Mormon, but they carry more clout than that because they turn out in such high numbers. Nearly a quarter of all 2008 Republican presidential caucus voters in Nevada were Mormon, and roughly nine in 10 backed Romney then.

In the final day of campaigning in Nevada, real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump stole the spotlight with a surprise endorsement for Romney. The news came after Gingrich’s campaign mistakenly leaked word that he, not Romney, would get the backing.

Amid the glitter of Las Vegas casinos, Trump declared that Romney, whom he often criticised in the past, is “not going to allow bad things to continue to happen to this country we all love”. The endorsement wasn’t expected to have much sway on Republican voters, but it was a shot of publicity for a race that has seen a dizzying range of candidates rise and fall.

Romney said he was glad to get the support, but he seemed almost bemused to be caught up in the drama.

“There are some things you just can’t imagine happening. This is one of them,” Romney said with a smile.

Romney is already the clear Republican front-runner after a convincing win in the Florida primary this week, pulling 46.4 per cent in the state compared with 31.9 per cent for Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, his closest rival.