Romney declared winner of Maine GOP Caucuses

Maine Republican Chairman Charles M. Webster and Vice Chair Ruth Summers issued statements on Saturday announcing Mitt Romney as the winner of this year’s Republican caucus process. They declared that Romney won Maine caucuses with 39.2 percent of the vote.

“We would like to congratulate Governor Romney on his win in the Maine caucuses, and thank Ron Paul and Mitt Romney for making stops in Maine over the past several weeks,” said Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster. “Maine People were excited to cast their first vote against the Obama agenda and we look forward to working with our Republican presidential nominee to defeat Barack Obama in Maine

“We owe many thanks and congratulations to our volunteers across the state who worked so diligently organizing these caucuses,’ said Maine GOP Vice Chair Ruth Summers. “These caucuses would not have been possible without our State Committee, who promoted this concept. It was wonderful to see so many Maine people turn out to vote in the presidential straw poll and participate in the caucus business. We are truly a grassroots party and the work they started is critical to moving our party forward and winning in November.”

Maine is considered a “beauty contest” state when it comes to caucuses: there are no national delegates “won” or “bound” to any Presidential candidate in the caucus process. At the caucuses, Maine Republicans elect state delegates, election clerks, and in some cases town officers. They ask those participating in the caucus to take a poll on which Presidential candidate they prefer.

This is an unofficial, non-binding poll that simply shows a snapshot or takes the current pulse of which Presidential candidate has the most support at the participating caucuses throughout the state. Some caucuses decided to not participate in the Presidential poll, and will caucus after the announcement of Romney’s win. Their results will not be factored into the results.

Republicans will elect their actual national delegation from the floor of the state convention on May 5 and 6.

As of Saturday, Feb. 11. Mitt Romney has 39.2 percent of the vote with 2,190 votes; Ron Paul has 35.7 percent with 1,996 votes; Rick Santorum has 17.7 percent with 989 votes; and Newt Gingrich has 6.25 percent with 349 votes.

A huge turnout filled the gymnasium at Geiger School in Lewiston to standing-room-only capacity for the Androscoggin County Republican caucuses. See Page 1 of Digital Edition for vote totals for Androscoggin County.