Mitt Romney edges out Ron Paul in Maine

PORTLAND, Maine -- Mitt Romney eked out a narrow win in Maine's Republican caucuses, state party officials announced Saturday, providing his campaign a much-needed boost after three straight losses earlier this week.

However, the former Massachusetts governor's margin of victory over rival Ron Paul was so slim it all but guaranteed scrutiny of the party's decision not to count the results of caucuses scheduled later in February.

At a state party gathering in Portland, state Republican chairman Charlie Webster announced Romney had won with 2,190 votes compared with 1,996 for Paul, the only other candidate to aggressively compete in the state. Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, received 989 votes and Newt Gingrich won 349, but neither actively campaigned there.

Webster said any caucus results that come in after yesterday wouldn't be counted no matter how close the vote was.

Maine's caucuses began Feb. 4 and continued throughout the week. But the results announced Saturday accounted for just 83 percent of all precincts. Several communities elected to have their caucuses at a later date.

Yesterday's scheduled caucuses in Washington County were postponed until Feb. 18 because of a snowstorm. Earlier, the state party's executive director, Michael Quatrano, said county officials were told the results would not count toward the total.

Romney also won The Washington Times/CPAC Presidential Straw Poll of conservative activists yesterday. He was favored as the GOP presidential nominee by 38 percent of the 3,408 respondents. Santorum drew 31 percent and former House speaker Gingrich was favored by 15 percent. All three had addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Friday.

Rep. Paul of Texas, who did not attend the conference, had 12 percent.