Mitt Romney wins Nevada by wide margin

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney won a decisive double-digit victory in the Nevada caucuses Saturday night, returns from 14 of 17 counties showed, according to the Associated Press. 

Romney registered 42 percent support, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 26 percent, Rep. Ron Paul Paul 18 percent and former Sen. Rick Santorum 13 percent, the news service reported early Sunday.

CBS News projections also had Romney won by a sizable margin, handing the Republican presidential candidate his third victory in the race for the presidential nomination.

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Almost 6 in 10 conservatives backed the former Massachusetts governor, almost three times the number who backed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the Associated Press reported. One in four voters in the Nevada vote on Saturday was Mormon, Romney's religion, and 9 out of 10 of them backed him, according to the AP. 

The win comes as the Republican candidates head into five nomination contests this month, Bloomberg reported, including caucuses in Maine that began over the weekend and will culminate later next week. Caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota start on February 7, and are followed closely by primaries in Arizona and Michigan on February 28, according to Bloomberg. 

While February looks like it will be a strong month for Romney's campaign, Newt Gingrich is charging forward, CBS reported.

Nevada is just "one stop on a cross-country train of collecting delegates," Gingrich spokesman RC Hammond told CBS. "Our job is to stop in every state and collect the delegates."

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