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Mitt Romney will win Nevada caucuses, CBS News projects

Posted: Feb 4, 2012 10:09 PM by Stephanie Condon (CBS)

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With the doors closed at caucus precincts across Nevada, CBS News projects that Mitt Romney has won the Nevada Republican caucuses by a sizable margin, giving him his third victory in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

With 757 of 1,835 precincts reporting, Romney has 42 percent of the vote. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, with 26 percent, and Rep. Ron Paul, with 18 percent, are battling for second place. Former Sen. Rick Santorum has 13 percent of the vote.

In his victory speech from Las Vegas, Romney made clear he's looking ahead to the general election, focusing his remarks on President Obama rather than his Republican rivals.

"Four years ago candidate Obama came to Nevada promising to help," he said. "Mr. President, Nevada has had enough of your kind of help."

Noting that, in spite of recent improvements, the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent, Romney said, "We're not going to settle for a president who tells us it could be worse."

A victory in Nevada leaves the former Massachusetts governor primed for what should be a strong month for him: There are six more states that will hold their caucuses or primaries in February, and Romney won four of them in the 2008 Republican primary campaign. Additionally, since his win in Nevada was widely predicted, Romney got a head start campaigning in other upcoming states.

Still, the race is far from over. Not including Nevada's delegates (which will be awarded proportionally), Romney has just 80 at this point -- far from the 1,144 needed to secure the GOP nomination. Even if he were to win every delegate starting with Nevada and going through Super Tuesday, Romney still wouldn't have enough delegates to clinch the nomination. (Ten states hold their contests on "Super Tuesday," which falls on March 6.)

Read more at CBSNews.com.

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