Nevada A Springboard For Romney [VIDEO]

Mitt Romney expects Nevada’s caucuses to kick off a month of primary and caucus contests to keep momentum on his side in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.

Polls show Romney far ahead in advance of Saturday’s voting, which follows months of organizing by the campaign of the former Massachusetts governor. Next up are Colorado and Minnesota, two other states he won in 2008, and later in February is his home state of Michigan.

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Just one debate is planned this month, which diminishes the chances that his chief rival, Newt Gingrich, can renew his candidacy with a highly publicized head-on challenge.

Romney told supporters on Friday that he expects a great showing in Nevada’s caucuses.

Gingrich hoping to beat Paul for 2nd place in Nev.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has little hope for an upset in Nevada’s caucuses and instead is looking to best rival Ron Paul for second place.

Trounced in Florida on Tuesday, Gingrich had just a few days to regroup in Nevada, a state that front-runner Mitt Romney won when he sought the GOP nomination in 2008.

Gingrich is skipping the traditional candidate victory party Saturday night and planning to issue a statement on the outcome.

The former House speaker has a sparse campaign operation in Nevada and took part in just five public events before caucus-goers were set to begin. His campaign ran no television ads.

In an interview Friday with Fox News, Gingrich said he hopes to defeat Paul’s strong Nevada organization to claim second place.

Nev. caucuses offer state a rare say in nomination

With its 24-hour casino gambling, legalized prostitution and drive-through wedding chapels, Nevada seems anything but conventional. When it comes to voting in presidential elections, it’s as mainstream as it gets.

Nevada hasn’t made much of a difference in selecting the nominee for president or on national politics in general. State officials are hoping that Saturday’s Republican caucuses change that.

Some analysts think Nevada is more representative of the U.S. than other early voting states because of its diverse population. While two-thirds of its population is white, 27 percent is Hispanic, 8 percent is black and 7 percent is Asian.

Faced with poor turnout and high costs for its presidential primary in 1996, Nevada moved to a caucus system with voting in March. In 2008, the caucuses moved to January.

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