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SALT LAKE CITY -- The GOP presidential race turns to three contests tomorrow in the central U.S. They follow Nevada, where Mitt Romney took home a big win. The numbers from the Nevada caucuses came in Monday, Showing Romney had 50 percent of voters.
That kind of lead means big momentum for Romney heading to three more contests on Tuesday in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota. After a solid victory, Romney turned his fire on the man he sees as his chief rival.
"(President Obama has) been trying to take a bow for 8.3 percent unemployment. Not so fast, Mr. President."
BYU political scientist Quinn Monson thinks Romney will do well. "It would be a surprise for him to lose one of these states," he said.
"When you look at it right now -- and what he did in Florida, what he did in Nevada, the states coming up between now and Super Tuesday -- it's hard to see anything going wrong for him," said Kirk Jowers, a Romney supporter.
Mitt Romney - 50% Newt Gingrich - 21% Ron Paul - 19% Rick Santorum - 10%
Romney's opponents promise to fight on, collecting delegates. Gingrich has said that by the time of the Texas primary, he will have a "very competitive" delegate count. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum made similar overtures about the race moving in their direction.
Romney seems likely to pivot more toward the general election. But the question remains: Has the bruising primary battle so far toughened him up or exposed vulnerabilities?
"It's one thing to be criticized by your opponents," said Tim Chambless, Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah "It's another thing to be criticized by your Republican friends within your own party and to have such repetition, vitriolic criticism from Newt Gingrich.">
So far, Mitt Romney has won 101 delegates, which is about 10% of the total he needs to win the nomination. There are still a lot of delegates remaining and that's one reason why his opponents are still in the race.
