Romney wins Idaho's first GOP caucus

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Tuesday won Idaho's first-ever Republican caucus, capturing all 32 delegates as voters came out in droves to help him best rivals Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich on some of the nation's reddest GOP turf.

Romney cruised to victory in Idaho's largest counties, Ada and Canyon, as well as southern and eastern counties including Bannock, Franklin, Power, Jerome, Twin Falls and Lemhi.

Organizers estimated 68,000 people turned out statewide, including 9,000 in Ada alone, where the crush was so great an extra 30 minutes were allowed so hundreds still outside the Taco Bell Arena at Boise State University at the 7 p.m. cutoff could make it in the doors.

One of those, Rachel Fuller from Meridian, braved the cold, blustery weather with her 14-year-old son, Brennan, to support Romney — and to participate in something she and thousands of other Idaho Republicans had never done before.

"It's just exciting to be here, to be able to vote," Fuller said. "I'm excited to be here with all of these like-minded people."

Romney's victory comes on what many consider his home turf, since more than a quarter of the state's residents share his Mormon faith. In addition, all of Idaho's statewide elected officials are Republican, as is more than 80 percent of the Legislature's membership.

The Ada County caucus began with short speeches from supporters of all four GOP contenders.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter rallied supporters to back Mitt Romney as the best person to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in November. He jabbed at the president, suggesting the more than 12,000 people who packed the same BSU arena in February 2008 for an Obama rally might have stayed home if they'd known how he would do as chief executive.

"Nobody knew him then," Otter said.

Meanwhile, a cover band played John Mellencamp's song "Pink Houses," while former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig delivered a duet rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" with a young high school accompanist.

Voting booths were shrouded in white curtains to protect privacy, as one Republican after another dropped shiny, 2011-minted Lincoln pennies with a light "plink" into buckets marked with each of the candidates' names.

When voters emerged from the booths, a volunteer shouted "Next." Before Tuesday, Ada County Republican Chairman Dwight Johnson said a circle of "five or fewer" people knew pennies were to be used as voting tokens, to cut down on the potential for caucus fraud.

"There is no margin of error," Johnson said of counting machines on loan from a local bank to tally the coins.

Boise resident Francoise Teal came to support Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who has gained momentum in recent weeks and made several stops in Idaho last month.

"This is a guy I'm really hoping and praying for," said Teal, an Italian by birth who became a U.S. citizen in 1958.

Her daughter, Jeanette Teal, also supported Santorum, but said she'd vote for Romney in November, if only reluctantly.

"I'll vote for whoever I have to, to get Obama out of office," she said.

Some Paul supporters said the same: The main thing is to get a Republican back in the White House.

"I'm more anti-Obama than I am for Romney or Santorum," said Judith Waskow, of Boise. "I'm supporting any Republican who is going to defeat Obama."

In the past three weeks, Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul joined Santorum in making campaign stops in Idaho. Idaho has previously held a GOP primary in May, too late in the election season to attract much interest from candidates concentrating on critical votes elsewhere.

Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, Idaho's top election official, gave the statewide events a cautious nod of approval, saying he'd have a final verdict once the dust settles.

"Participation is the key," said Ysursa, sitting in courtside seats at the BSU arena. "The other part of it, holding the caucus got all the presidential candidates here."

In the other nine states involved in Super Tuesday contests, Romney claimed victories in Vermont, Massachusetts and Virginia and was locked in tight race with Santorum in Ohio. Gingrich won in Georgia, while Santorum was declared the victor in Oklahoma, North Dakota and Tennessee.