Romney claims victory in Maine GOP caucuses

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AUGUSTA – Maine Republican leaders said Sunday they weren’t surprised by Mitt Romney’s convincing win in weekend caucuses, but they were taken aback by the size of the former Massachusetts governor’s victory in the last presidential preference event before Super Tuesday.

“I’m not surprised about Romney. He is a New England person,” said Scott Kauffman, vice chairman of the Maine Republican Committee.

With votes counted from 69 percent of Maine towns and cities holding caucuses, Romney collected 52 percent of the votes with McCain polling second with 21 percent, Ron Paul third with 19 percent, and Mike Huckabee fourth with 6 percent. Undecideds accounted for 2 percent of the 4,563 ballots cast.

Even though the votes from more towns are to be totaled, party leaders said the overall results won’t change. The caucuses are the first step toward selecting Maine’s delegates to the national convention, and the results of what was essentially a straw poll are nonbinding.

Maine GOP Executive Director Julie O’Brien, who had observed before the caucuses that Paul, a Texas congressman, had a strong and vibrant organization in Maine, said Romney’s solid win was likely due to his campaign’s efforts to reach party members by phone and persuade them to go to caucuses.

O’Brien said an eleventh-hour campaign visit by Romney’s son Tagg may also have played a role. Romney’s win “wasn’t a surprise, but it was a surprise to me that it was by so much,” she said.

Peter Cianchette, Maine’s GOP national committeeman who supports Romney, said he did not see Romney’s win as a surprise.

“We expected to do well and were pleased to see that it was by such a large margin,” Cianchette said in an e-mail. “Maine’s mainstream and conservative Republicans demonstrated they believe Governor Romney is the best choice for our party.”

Attendance at the caucuses more than met the expectations of party leaders, who had set a goal of having the biennial party meetings in 80 percent of Maine’s municipalities.

In Penobscot County, nearly 500 registered Republicans from 12 county communities, large and small, converged on Husson College’s Peabody Hall. Romney led with 201 votes, more than double McCain’s 86. Paul had 68 votes, while Huckabee received 26 votes.

In addition, Alan Keyes received one vote from a Bangor participant. Eight caucus participants remained undecided on Saturday.

Dick Campbell, a former Republican congressional candidate, said his original choice was Rudolph Giuliani, but the chance to support him ended last week when the former New York City mayor dropped out of the race. Campbell said he now is supporting Romney.

“He has the multifaceted qualifications we rarely see in a candidate,” Campbell said of Romney, though he acknowledged that “McCain has the momentum” nationally.

Cary Weston, chairman of the Bangor Republican City Committee, said he was pleased with the number of younger Republicans participating in the Penobscot County caucus. Four of the city committee’s officers are under 40, he noted.

“We’re just trying to get people energized,” said Weston, noting that at least half of the 130 Bangor party members who turned out were participating in their first-ever caucus.

Thirty-three registered Republicans participated in the GOP caucus at Ellsworth City Hall on Saturday, where Romney received the most support with 16 votes followed by McCain with eight. Huckabee and Paul each received four votes, and one came back undecided.

Michael Povich, a longtime Republican and the district attorney for Hancock and Washington counties, cast his vote for McCain.

“My biggest concern is elect-ability, and he seems to have the best chance to defeat the Democrats,” Povich said, although he added that the current administration has been detrimental to all the GOP candidates.

Phil Shea, however, said McCain’s stance on immigration was a deal-breaker for him, and he supported Romney.

“It seems like he would do something about [immigration],” Shea said of Romney. “There are 12 million illegal immigrants in this country, drawing from our resources. They shouldn’t even be here to begin with.”

In Pittsfield, local voters mirrored state opinion, choosing Romney as the caucus favorite.

Of the 41 votes cast, Romney received 20, McCain was second with 11 votes, followed by six votes for Paul and four votes for Huckabee.

The Pittsfield caucus included the towns of Detroit, St. Albans, Hartland and Palmyra, and the 40-plus turnout was well beyond what organizers expected.

Longtime Republican activist Nancy Gibson said this election was one of the most exciting she had seen. “It’s the first time everyone, across the board, is talking and discussing politics,” she said.

Issues such as a smooth transition from the existing presidency, energy options, a pro-life stance, illegal immigration, gun rights, and the war in Iraq were prominent topics.

“It is so important for Republicans to stick together right now,” said Kathy Watson of Pittsfield.

Seventeen-year-old Emily Goldman of Pittsfield was attending her first caucus.

“I’ll turn 18 in May, before the election,” she said. Goldman said she favored Ron Paul and wanted to support him at the caucus. “He tells the truth and the only one not acting like a politician,” she said.

Goldman said many of her fellow students at Maine Central Institute are closely following politics. “We had a big debate in study hall last week,” she said. “We even got the teachers into it.”

In Lincoln, Ron Paul gave Mitt Romney a run for his money, capturing eight of the 20 party members to Romney’s nine, said state Rep. Jeff Gifford, R-Lincoln.

“A lot of the guys that voted for him like his no-nonsense, less government attitude, and the people who went for Romney figured he was an electable candidate and entirely conservative,” Gifford said Sunday.

John McCain got one vote, and two others were undecided, Gifford said.

Maine Republicans were completing their caucuses in a small scattering of towns Sunday with a few more set for later this month.

Asked what impact Romney’s Maine win Saturday might have on the preference events in more than 20 states this week, Cianchette said it “helps us take some momentum into Tuesday. There are a lot of states voting on Tuesday, and we expect to have a good showing. This is a two-man race that won’t be over on Super Tuesday.”

Romney, campaigning in Chicago, touted his Maine victory, noting that “it was a tough place for me to run” because the state’s GOP power structure – including U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and former Gov. John McKernan – had lined up in support of the Arizona senator.

But Romney said his campaign was boosted by conservative radio commentators who took up his cause before the caucuses.

Maine Democrats fired off a statement saying Romney’s policies “closely mirror those of the Bush administration, and were he to be elected president, it would be tantamount to a third term” for President Bush.

“The base of the Maine Republican Party is clearly out of step with most Maine people, who are looking for change and a new direction in Washington, not simply more of the same,” said the statement by Democratic Party Executive Director Arden Manning.

BDN reporters Dawn Gagnon in Bangor, Eric Russell in Ellsworth, and Sharon Mack in Pittsfield contributed to this story.