Florida now sits behind us - thankfully - and the remaining candidates have headed west to appeal to the voters of Nevada.
All four candidates have been circulating around Las Vegas in the last couple of days to stump for votes. Mitt Romney carried the state in 2008, and is hoping to repeat that success this weekend to build on the momentum from Tuesday's victory.
The latest poll of likely caucus-goers, done by KLAS-TV, shows Romney pulling in 45 percent of votes. Newt Gingrich site a distant second with 25%, while Rick Santorum and Ron Paul wrap up the field with 11% and 9% respectively.
Ten percent of respondents indicated they were undecided.
The Nevada caucus will award 28 delegates on Saturday, February 4. The delegates are awarded on a proportional basis, in the same manner as Iowa.
Ron Paul was the first to arrive in Nevada, bypassing Florida entirely except for two nationally televised debates. Paul's campaign has from the start intended to focus on caucus states and open primaries in order to get boosted by crossover voting, and has no intention of dropping out before the Republican National Convention in August.
Santorum also arrived early in the Silver State, campaigning there since Monday for evangelical support. He is trying to appeal to voters who still would not be comfortable with Newt Gingrich as the "non-Romney" candidate who would best support Tea Party motives. Indeed, his campaign may get a boost from the endorsement of Tea Party activists and 2010 Senate candidate Sharron Angle, who narrowly missed toppling Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in that year's wave election. Santorum desperately needs strong showings in Nevada, Missouri, and Colorado to be able to compete on Super Tuesday. With Nevada's high unemployment and deplorable housing market, Santorum may falter as voters focus more on fiscal policy and less on social concerns. An extremely poor showing here may force the campaign to make a very difficult decision.
Newt Gingrich has received $10 million from Sheldon Adelson, owner of Las Vegas Sands, through the Winning Our Future PAC in order to compete in Florida and the February contests. He might also receive an endorsement later today from Donald Trump, who flirted with his own presidential run last year. If Gingrich can pull over 30% of the vote in Nevada, he can continue to fight onward as the main non-Romney candidate. He should fight to at least Super Tuesday, as the campaign has stated it is aiming for a lot of delegates from Southern states (most notably Georgia) on March 6.
Mitt Romney, of course, still crushes his rivals in resources, and is already well-known to Nevadans. He pulled 51% of the vote in 2008, and if he is able to meet or surpass that number again it will really give his campaign some steam going into Minnesota, Michigan, and Maine's events - all states which should be favorable to him, assuming he does not put his foot in his mouth at inopportune moments.
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