Mitt Romney claimed victory in yesterday's Republican caucus in Maine, where he was leading with about 52 percent of the vote as ballot counting continued last night.
"This is a people's victory," Romney said while campaigning in Minnesota. "It is, in my view, also an indication that conservative change is something that the American people want to see."
"I think you're going to see a growing movement across this country to get behind my candidacy and to propel this candidacy forward," he said. "I think it's a harbinger of what you're going to see on Tuesday."
The party's municipal caucuses were heavily attended across Maine.
With 57 percent of the caucus sites reporting, the former Massachusetts governor had 52 percent of the vote. John McCain trailed with 22 percent, Ron Paul was third with 19 percent, and Mike Huckabee had 5 percent. Undecided votes accounted for 2 percent.
Despite a storm the night before that left much of the state coated with slush and ice, cars jammed the parking lot outside an Augusta elementary school where Kennebec County municipalities were caucusing.
Republican caucuses were being held in about 410 Maine municipalities. A few dozen towns, especially in northern Maine's Aroostook County, held caucuses Friday, and a few more were set for today and later this month.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clinton, Obama trade fire on gun control issue
Hillary Clinton yesterday took a swipe at Barack Obama on gun control, an issue that has barely registered in the Democratic race so far. But her larger point was to return to something she's hit quite a bit - the idea that Obama has been inconsistent.
Earlier yesterday in Idaho, Obama told a crowd: "I have no intention of taking away folks' guns."
The Clinton campaign put out a response, pointing to a 1996 questionnaire Obama filled out when he was running for the Illinois Senate, in which he said he "supported banning the manufacture, sale, and possession of handguns." When a reporter on her plane asked her about Obama's gun comments, Clinton said her opponent's position has "obviously changed over a relatively short period of time."
"My understanding is that really within the space of four or five years, he's had several positions on a number of really challenging issues," she said. "You'll have to ask him why he has so rapidly changed position from year to year."
MARCELLA BOMBARDIERI
