Mitt-chigan: Romney claims victory 'gold' in state of his birth

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — After stumbling in Iowa and New Hampshire, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney finally crossed the finish line first in a major race by winning Tuesday's Michigan Republican primary.

Romney faced tough competition in his boyhood state from Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain, who vaulted back into the race for the White House by capturing New Hampshire's primary one week ago. But McCain's message to Michigan — that Motor City jobs were gone and not coming back — did not play well in in the heart of the nation's auto industry, allowing Romney to chalk up his big win.

"We're celebrating here in Michigan tonight, I'll tell you that," a jubilant Romney told several hundred supporters crowded into a hotel ballroom in this Detroit suburb. "Guess what they're doing in Washington? They're worrying."

Romney pledged to continue working to strengthen the economy, a message that clearly resonated with Michigan voters and one he said he'll bring to South Carolina, Nevada and Florida, which are the next states to vote. "I will never accept defeat for any industry here in America. We'll fight for them," Romney said to cheers.

McCain, a winner in Michigan in 2000, took Tuesday's results in stride.

"We fell a little short tonight," he said. "But we have no cause to be discouraged or to second-guess what we might have done differently. We did what we always try to do: We went to Michigan and told people the truth."

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Romney totaled 39 percent to McCain's 30 percent. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was a distant third with 16 percent.

Katie Packer, Romney's consultant in Michigan, said the key to his victory was simple: "He had a message of hope," Packer said with a smile. "Hope sells."

It certainly did to Randy McCoy, an engineer in the auto industry who was out of work for seven months after losing his job at GM in that company's massive cutbacks three years ago. During Romney's victory party, McCoy said that Michigan has "been an awful lonely state, governmentwise. It seems like the federal government looks over it, around it, but not at it"

Gwen Blandy, a young homemaker, was also buying, explaining she's been a Romney supporter since he led the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from scandal to success.

"We are forgotten by a lot of politicians," Blandy said, rocking the youngest of her three children outside the ballroom. "A lot of people here have been aching for jobs."